She's Not Supposed To Be Here
by petrichorpoetry
Summary: Lena never expected pop into the Whoniverse like one of the numerous fanfiction characters she's read about, but to her great shock that's exactly what happens. She finds herself having to come to terms with being suddenly thrown into a world containing very real, very deadly aliens while trying to figure out out how she's supposed to fit into the Doctor's crazy and dangerous life.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say once and for all: everything in this except for my original storyline and characters belongs to the BBC. I do not in any way, however much I'd like to, own Doctor Who. I do, however own a plushie Dalek named Kevin (and sometimes Steve), who wanted me to tell all you wonderful people he says hello.**

When Lena buckled up in the passenger seat of the car that day as they got ready to drive through the blizzard in order to reach her dad in the hospital before he died, she was definitely not expecting what was about to happen.

She was not expecting to reach the hospital in time. She was not expecting to remain in the passenger seat, as her mother was crying enough already that soon she wouldn't be able to see well enough to drive safely. She was not expecting her bag of chips to spill all over the floor. She was not expecting to be in a car accident. She was _definitely_ not expecting to somehow slip through into another universe like the Pevensies had into Narnia or bunches of fanfiction OC's had into the various worlds of their respective fandoms.

That last one, especially, was something she _very_ much did not believe to be possible.

But that was exactly what happened.


	2. Chapter 2: The Crash

They had reached the highway without a single word spoken between them; both were too focused on their destination and what they would find there to talk. Lina stared nervously out of the car windows, somewhat scared by the fact that they were driving in whiteout conditions. She couldn't even see the front of the car, much less the road. But the GPS was helping them at least go in the right direction, and as they hadn't ended up in a ditch or pond yet she had hope that they might actually get to the general vicinity of the hospital without losing their way.

But what she and her mother didn't know was that other people who had ventured out had not had such good luck. Lina glanced at the speedometer, then back out at the blizzard.

"Mum, slow down a bit. Please? Just a little bit, just a little. I know you're not going fast or anything, but can we go a tiny bit slower? It's just making me really nervous. Maybe I could drive for a little bit," she suggested tentatively, glancing sideways at her mother, who was still crying quietly.

"Every second counts, Lena," her mother said huskily, not looking over. "We have to get there as quickly as possible. There's no time to switch if we want to make it in time to say goodbye." Her mother choked on a sob. Lena swallowed hard, fighting back her own tears.

"I know, but...just—what use will we be to Dad if we're dead on the side of the road because something went wrong and with all the ice and snow we were going too fast to fix it? It's physics, mum. At a certain point you're not going to be able to correct for mistakes or unforeseen problems."

"I know!" her mother snapped, a bit more forcefully then she had intended. Then, sighing, she said, "I know. All right. I'm sorry. I'll slow down a bit if it makes you feel better." She decelerated.

Silence fell once more. Lena saw the speedometer rise a bit again, but didn't comment. She went back to staring out the windows and trying not to let herself think about the painful event that was rapidly approaching. Suddenly she saw something glint up ahead. She sat forward, alert, trying to see if it was really there or if she had just imagined it, and started to warn her mother.

"Mum! Mum, slow down! I think there's a—"

She was cut off as their car side-swept another vehicle that was stuck in a snowbank on the highway. It sent their car fishtailing, and her mother tried to straighten it out. But the ice on the road and the snow layered heavily top of it made that impossible, and in seconds they were spinning in circles, out of control. The car slid off the edge of the highway and hurtled down an embankment before coming to a sudden, jarring stop as it slammed into the edge of the tree line that ran all along the highway. That was the last thing Lena saw.

**Hi! I hope this is decent so far. I haven't had anyone beta it yet, and I claim all responsibility for any mistakes in this. If you like it, please drop me a little review to let me know! ;)**

**~Starlight**


	3. Chapter 3 What Just Happened?

When she woke up, it wasn't snowing anymore. It wasn't even cold. She was now sweating in her heavy winter clothes and parka. As she moved to take off her coat a sudden pain lanced across her chest. Instantly she stopped moving and started taking stock of herself. Her chest hurt like crazy, but it was subsiding to a dull, constant throb. Her right knee felt wet and stiff, like it was swollen. Her skin stung in numerous places. Her head pounded incessantly. She squeezed her eyes shut, wondering what on earth had happened.

Her dad. The hospital. Driving. Whiteout conditions. Too fast. Something up ahead. Spinning, crashing. Her mum's scream...oh no. Her mum! Lena shoved herself up into a sitting position in one go, gasping at the instant pain but refusing to give into the buzzing haze that wanted to take over her field of vision.

"Mum?" She croaked, squinting around. "Mum? Mum!" Nothing. Just trees and grass. There was a highway up a hill from where she was. No snow. No car.

No mum.

"MUM!" she screamed. There still no answer. She doubted there ever would be one. Lena let out a scream of pure frustration and fright before bursting into tears. She couldn't stand up or walk because her knee wouldn't take her weight, which meant no going anywhere to find was going on? Had she suddenly jumped into the next spring or summer or something? Where was the car, and what had happened to her mum? Was her mum still alive? Was _she_ even alive? She figured she probably was, because you weren't supposed to be able to feel anything once you were dead and she could most definitely feel things still. She pondered for a minute whether she was stuck in some kind of in-between place, like in the book _Everlost,_ that she had read over the summer, but quickly nixed it because even in that the people didn't stay injured or anything. Was she—could she be unconscious or in a coma and imagining this place? It would make sense. The world didn't just go from a violent blizzard to lush, green grass and summer temperatures in an instant.

What happened next seemed to confirm her hypothesis as someone ran down the embankment. It was man. A frighteningly familiar-looking man in pinstripes, trainers, and a long tan coat that flapped out behind him as he ran.

"Hello," he said. "Are you all right? No, sorry, stupid question. I was just in the area when I heard you calling and I figured you might in need of some assistance. Or a banana. Bananas are very good for you, excellent source of potassium..." he trailed off for a moment before shaking himself and grinning. "Sorry, I ramble a lot. Drives all my companions nuts. Well, when I have companions, anyway. So, do you want some help, then? I can help. I'm the Doctor by the way, nice to meet you."

Lena floundered in shock for a moment. "I'm...Lena," she said, deciding that she must most definitely be unconscious. She'd read too many fanfictions that were like this. The Doctor casually scanned her with the sonic and whistled.

"Blimey, you're in bad shape. Pretty darn banged up. Don't worry. We can get fixed up right as rain." He scooped her up without waiting for a response and started off between the trees. "What happened to you?"

Lena figured that even if this was just a product of her subconscious it certainly wasn't unpleasant at all, so she might as well just go along with it for the time being—not as if there was anything else she could do, anyway. She told the Doctor what had happened in a very jumbled, roundabout fashion. "My mum and I were in the car and she was going a bit fast—well, not _fast_, you know, but just a little bit faster than was probably actually safe, since we were driving a blizzard. She was still going way under the speed limit, of course. But anyway, we were on the highway and it was icy and we couldn't see much of anything because the snow was so thick. And I thought I saw something up ahead, but I wasn't sure, si I was trying to get a better look but then I was too late and we hit the side of a stalled car and my mum just couldn't get control—"here she paused to take a deep breath before continuing—"So we slid down the embankment and...crashed...right there...but then I woke up and I was here instead and I don't know what's going on because the car and my mum are gone and it's suddenly not winter anymore and I must be in a coma or something because this is just insane—you're not even real, and even if you were you wouldn't just show up like this and find me; it's way to convenient, you just happening to be here at the right time with the Tardis!" The Doctor stopped short and looked at her. There was a hint of suspicion and caution in his eyes.

"What did you say? How do you know about me?"

"You're a _television show!_ My favorite television show. I'm obsessed. I have replica sonic screwdrivers, I listen to the soundtracks all the time, I have a plushie Dalek in my bedroom that I named Kevin and sometimes Steve! I read fanfictions about you and your companions all the time. There are lots of stories where people end up falling into your universe and all that, but none of it's real. I'm stuck here and I don't know what to do! How do I wake up?"

"I need proof that you really know about me. Anyone can do a bit of digging on the internet and find out about the Daleks and my sonic. I don't know what fanfictions are, but you could easily have made them up. So who am I, really?" The Doctor demanded. Lena sighed exasperatedly.

"Are you really going to make me do this?" she asked. The Doctor gave her a firm stare. "Fine. You're the Doctor. You're a nine-hundred-and-something-year-old Time Lord—that's if you're not lying about your age, because you may be—from Gallifrey, which was lost in the time war, you travel all over time and space inside a Type 40 Tardis that's bigger on the inside and disguised a blue police box because you never fixed the Chameleon Circuit, you pick up companions sometimes and they travel with you all over and learn how to live fantastic lives, you love bananas, you have two hearts and can regenerate, and you like hospitals to have a little shop. And you're so old, and so kind, and you're the best man so many people have ever known, even though you can't see it. You're clever and witty and for some reason you owe Casanova a chicken, or maybe you don't yet but you will in the future. That good enough for you?"

"Wow," the Doctor said slowly. "That is...that's...impressive. I have to believe you, even though it seems crazy. You're not lying; the sonic picked up an unusual background radiation pattern on you. At first I didn't think much of it, but now I see it's because you're not from this universe. And I think," he said, giving her a look, "that as much as you're denying even the possibility of it, you probably did just pull a "fanfiction," and somehow landed here in this universe where I am. Because I can guarantee you you are definitely awake and that this is all real. I'm a Time Lord, I can tell about these things."

"A dream would say that," Lena argued.

"Yeah, but a dream isn't this vivid. Even in lucid dreams none of the sensations are this clear, ever. You know that's true ."

"Yeah, but...I just can't...this can't be real! It's too crazy," she protested as he began walking again.

"Look, I assure you this is all real. I'm the Doctor. You need help. Luckily, I help people, as you know, and this is my Tardis, which I bet you're dying to see because she's just so amazing." Sure enough, they had just come through the doors. Lena couldn't help the tears that fell down her cheeks. The Tardis was a million times more wonderful than even her best imaginings could make it. It was so different, actually _being_ there, feeling the undeniable living presence of the ship and seeing the sheer immensity of her. She smiled for the first time since waking up, and the Doctor felt all the fight and denial leave her as she finally relaxed in his arms. There was no denying the reality of the Tardis. She was just to powerful to be a figment of anyone's imagination.

"Oh," she practically moaned in delight. "Oh, you are _magnificent_. You're _gorgeous_." The Tardis hummed and the lights brightened for a moment. The Doctor grinned madly.

"Oh, she likes you! I bet you're going to get along really well. 'Course you've got an advantage, already knowing about her being sentient and all, but still." He glanced down at Lena. "You holding up still? Can't be feeling to good."

"It hurts," Lena replied. "But I can take it." She figured it was best to be honest. This was the Doctor, after all. He'd know if she was lying about how much it hurts.

He smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm just going to get you settled in a bed and then I'll start patching you up." He carried her to one of the spare rooms before setting her down on the bed as gently as possible. "All right?" He asked. Lena nodded. "Be right back," he said as he dashed out.

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading. I hope you liked the longer chapter this time. :) Just fyi, I know there are likely mistakes in here that I didn't catch. I did my best to go over the text and find everything I could, but I'll be doing it again in the future when I edit more thoroughly. I hope it was enjoyable! The next chapter will be up soon. Until then, stay awesome!**

**~Starlight**


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome to the Tardis

He came back a few minutes later, arms full of various gadgets and first-aid supplies. He pulled out a canister with a tiny needle on the end.

"It's just a sedative," he told Lena. "Knock you out temporarily so you can rest and not have to feel anything for a while. I would just nudge your mind into sleeping, but since you already probably have a concussion I don't want to accidentally scramble you brain anymore that it already might be. That all right with you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lena replied. It would be a relief, honestly. She was all too happy to agree.

"This'll hurt for a moment, but it's not nearly as bad as what you're used to with your doctors and their needles," he told her, holding it up to her neck. He pressed a small button and Lena winced momentarily, rubbing the spot as he pulled back.

"Bit like a bee sting, but it doesn't hurt for as long," she commented, already sounding groggy. Her eyelids drooped.

"Yep," the Doctor said, popping the "p." "It's fast-acting, so you should..." He trailed off as he saw she was already asleep. With a small smile, he shook his head and said, "You're quite a puzzle, but that's all right. Once you're feeling better, we can try to figure out how you got here, and if we can get you home. Though maybe we can go on a few adventures before that. Wouldn't want you to miss out on seeing something neat, like the banana groves where that factory used to be. You know, that one that Jack's vortex manipulator came from. Wonder how much you know about Jack? Probably a lot. There was that one time with the depressed robot—what was his name...Marvin!—and Jack had gone and made it mad because he said..." the Doctor continued to ramble to Lena as he took care of her injuries, all the while wondering just how in the world he was going to fix things _this_ time. Another universe! He shook his head. It was supposed to be impossible, but here she was, defying all the rules. With a small smile, he brushed her hair to the side before standing and dimming the lights.

In the hallway, the Doctor paused and looked back at her, sleeping deeply. "Have a good rest, Lena. See you when you wake up." Then he closed the door.

Lena woke up feeling incredibly comfortable. Nothing hurt at all. She didn't even have the slight stiffness she normally got when she first woke up in the morning. She opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar room, which confused her momentarily until she heard a quiet thrumming and realized she was on the Tardis.

What a weird concept.

She sat up, marveling at how comfortable the temperature was—not too hot, not to cold. The Tardis must have had some kind of awesome climate control. She walked over to a door and opened it, discovering an enormous bathroom. She quickly pulled off her beat-up clothes from the day before and started a very hot shower running. As she washed, she examined her perfectly smooth skin. The Doctor had done a great job. No cuts, no scrapes, no bruises. She wasn't even sore where her broken ribs had been.

After drying off, she braided her hair loosely and snatched a robe from the hook the Tardis had so nicely placed by the bedroom door. "Uh, hi," she said, looking at the ceiling. "Um, good morning...how're you this morning?"

She felt strange talking to the Tardis, but suddenly she was almost bowled over by the sheer force of the wave of contentment that washed over her. "Whoa," she said, a bit breathlessly. "Hi!" Suddenly Lena's face lit up. "HA! She yelled, punching the air. I _knew _it! I _knew _you could do that. It was too good to just be head cannon, and besides, how else were all the companions supposed to understand your sentience so well?" The Tardis hummed in her mind, and Lena smiled. "Would you mind showing me the way to the wardrobe?" The Tardis blinked the lights and the door swung open of its own accord. Lena stepped through...straight into the wardrobe room.

She blinked and looked around. "Wow," she said, patting the nearest coral strut. "Thanks! You're the best." She felt the Tardis mentally nuzzle her as she wandered off among the endless racks of clothing.

An uncertain amount of time and clothing items later, she emerged into the hallway in jeans, trainers (just like the Doctor's, only lime green), and an _Avengers_ T-shirt. The Tardis nudged her in the right direction and within minutes Lena was in the console room, where all that could be seen of the Doctor were his feet, sticking out from under the console.

"Doctor?" Lena said tentatively. There was a sudden thud and an unintelligible swear, and then the Doctor dragged himself out from under the grating, rubbing his head. Lena winced. "Sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine," the Doctor said as he stood. "Happens all the time, sadly." He absentmindedly flicked a few switches before turning to Lena. "So..." he drawled. "What's on your mind?"

"Have you figured out how I got here?"

The Doctor sighed. "No. I've come up with an enormous amount of theories, but not a single one has panned out. However..." he paused. "The Tardis seems to know what's going on much more than I do, and she's assured me that however you got here it's not a problem."

"So we don't have to worry about the multiverse collapsing or anything?"

"Right. But there's something else, too. The Tardis was apparently able to grab some information from your universe when you came through. She essentially made a copy of all the data on the internet from your present to about six or seven years in the future. And...I was able to find out what happened to your parents and even your out of town siblings."

"You did?"

The Doctor nodded, a serious look on his face. "Yeah. You sure you want to know?"

Lena bit her lip. Something about the way the Doctor was looking at her told her that she might not want to. But they were her family, and she had to. It was only right. "Yes. What happened?"

The Doctor silently slid the swinging screen over to her.

I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! If you have anything you want me to do (or not do), let me know. Remember, reviews make authors happy... ;)

Stay awesome!

~Starlight


	5. Chapter 5: Family Matters

**I'm sorry this took so long; I've been out of town.**

On it, Lena saw an article about her family and quickly skimmed it. _Mrs. Siteman and daughter Elena Siteman, who were out driving in the blizzard last week in an attempt to reach the hospital where Mr. Siteman was dying from aggressive brain cancer, are the victims of a tragic accident. Mrs. Siteman was killed on impact. The daughter, whom family and friends Lena, is still missing from the scene of the accident. The only evidence that remains are some traces of her blood on the passenger side of the car. Mr. Siteman passed away peacefully in the hospital mere minutes after the crash claimed the lives of his wife and possibly his youngest child as well. They are survived by two other children, Mark and Savannah, both of whom are married and live out of state. We were unable to reach them for comment. Elena is still missing, but given the circumstances and severity of the crash it is doubtful that she could have survived for even a short time. She is now officially presumed dead. A double funeral for Mr. and Mrs. Siteman will be held this coming Friday morning at 9:00 a.m., followed by a memorial service for their daughter..._ There was a bit more, but Lena stopped reading. She looked at the Doctor.

"So they're dead, then." her voice was flat.

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor said quietly. Lena looked away, her lips beginning to tremble. The Doctor stepped forward and pulled her into a hug as she clung to him for comfort. He held her tightly and mumbled reassurances to her as she mourned for the family she didn't even get to say goodbye to. Finally she had calmed down and pulled away, a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry," she mumbled."

"Don't be," the Doctor said. "It's a natural reaction to something like this."

Lena closed her eyes for a moment. "So I'm dead then, back home. Even if I did go back, there's nothing left for me. Everyone will have moved on." She paused, wondering how long it would take her siblings to stop grieving. She hoped for their sakes it wasn't too long. She turned away from the Doctor and sat down on the edge of the grating. "Okay. For the sake of avoiding paradoxes, where are you right now?" She frowned for a moment, then rephrased it. "Sorry, I mean what's the last adventure you've done? Where did you go?"

"Epsilon Six," the Doctor said, sitting down next to her. Lena shook her head.

"That doesn't help. Before that?"

"Chorlintan. Planet full of swamps. Rose didn't like it much," he mused. "Come to think of it, I didn't either. Too gunky. And it tasted disgusting."

Lena was so shocked that she didn't even comment on the fact that the Doctor had apparently licked the swamps.

"_Rose?"_ Lena practically choked out. "You're traveling with _Rose?_"

"Well, yeah," the Doctor said. "Is that a problem?"

"No, it's just...I thought you were traveling alone right now...where is she, then? How have I not run into her yet? She's always hanging around the console room, isn't she?"

"Yeah, a lot of the time, but she's not on the Tardis right now. Dropped her off at home so she could get some laundry washed and see her mum and some friends. Was on my way to pick her up when I got a bit sidetracked chasing a runaway Tribble not far from where you were. I had just got that taken care of when I heard you holler and went to see what was going on."

"Oh my gosh," Lena said. "I just can't believe it. Rose."

"Why, is there something wrong with her?"

"No!" Lena said. "Just—she's my most favorite companion ever. I really love her. I can't believe how lucky I got..."

"Well, want to go meet her?"

"Heck yes!" Lena said, jumping up. She was happy to be sufficiently distracted from what had happened to her parents. There would be a lot of time in the future to think about it, she knew. The Doctor gave her a mad grin, then sent the Tardis hurtling off towards London.

"Hold on!" he called, but she was already gripping the railing by the jump seat.

"Doctor," she yelled as they bounced wildly, "can you not tell Rose I told you she was my favorite? That would be kind of awkward."

"My lips are sealed!" the Doctor shouted back as he reached out to slam down a lever, landing the Tardis. "Hah!"

Lena stood up and straightened her clothes. Luckily her hair had stayed in its braid while being flung around wildly. The Doctor snatched his coat and pulled it on as they walked down the ramp.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Suppose so."

The Doctor opened the Tardis doors and stepped out first. A figure with blonde hair was running out of the nearest building. The Doctor jogged over to meet her in the middle.

"Doctor!" Rose said happily. "You're back. Was wondering where you got to, you're 'bout three hours late."

"Sorry," the Doctor said, taking her hand. "Got a bit delayed. Picked up another passenger on my way to get you," he said, gesturing towards Lena, who had stayed by the Tardis. Lena gave a shy wave. "She got into a car crash and somehow ended up in our universe. Her parents are both dead."

"Oh, no," Rose said, looking over at Lena sadly.

The Doctor made Rose look at him and said seriously, "Rose, where Lena is from, my entire life is a show on the telly. She knows a lot of our past and future. It's very, very important that you never_,_ _ever_ ask her about it, all right? We don't want any nasty consequences." Rose nodded. "And just a heads up, she really likes you. She'll probably follow you around for a while, so you might want to just include her in whatever you're doing until she mellows out."

"Fine with me! I get bored sometimes while you're tinkering around under the console for hours on end. Now I'll have someone to go swimming with. Hey, I wonder if she likes blackjack? We could play for chocolate or something."

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," the Doctor chuckled as he and Rose walked over to Lena together. The girl was practically bouncing in anticipation. The Doctor opened his mouth to introduce them properly, but Rose beat him to it.

"Hi Lena! I'm Rose. I mean, you already know that, but it's still polite to introduce m'self."

"Hi!" Lena practically squeaked. "I'm Lena. But then you already knew that, too." The girls laughed.

"You been managing with this nutter while I've been gone? He been behaving himself?" Rose asked, mock seriously."

"Oi!" the Doctor protested.

"No, he's been fine," Lena laughed. "I think he's been holding back on the craziness for the most part so he doesn't scare me off before I've even been here a day."

The Doctor spluttered, indignant. Lena felt a bit guilty.

"Really, he's been great," she amended. "Took good care of me, fixed me right up. I don't even have a bruise left."

"Good," Rose said, smiling affectionately up at the Doctor. "Oh, you know we're just pushing your buttons." The Doctor gave them a small smile, then dashed into the Tardis, calling over his shoulder, "Last one to the console does dishes tonight! Hurry up, we have planets to go save!"

Rose and Lena looked at each other in amusement for a moment before sprinting inside. The doors swung shut behind them and the Tardis faded out of sight.

**Okay, so I'm going to give you all a small spoiler here: Lena is going to change her name soon. I have some ideas, but I'm completely open to suggestions. So if you wouldn't mind, there's a poll up on my profile page for what you want her name to be. I have a few options on there, and if you have another please select "other" and then send me a message with your idea. I want to make sure it's a name that you guys will like. :)**

**As always, stay awesome!**

**~Starlight**


	6. Chapter 6: Hello Seattle

There was a jarring thud as the Tardis landed, making the entire console room shake, throwing its three occupants to the ground. They jumped up, laughing.

"How was that, eh?" the Doctor said. "Not too bad."

"Not too bad?" Rose scoffed. "Nearly got us tossed over the railing, you mean!" But she was grinning.

"That was brilliant!" Lena exclaimed. She was literally hopping from one foot to the other. "I almost managed to keep my balance. Can we go out now?"

"Don't you want to know where we are first?" the Doctor asked.

"No, it should be a surprise! I want to see what's out there. Can I go first? Please?"

"Don't see why not," he said.

"Yes!" Lena was off like a shot. She flung open the doors and jumped out...into an alley. "Oh," she said, a bit disappointed. "Right. This does tend to happen a lot." The Doctor and Rose stepped out of the Tardis behind her, shutting the door.

"Where are we?" Rose asked, looking around as they headed out of the alley and on to the sidewalk. "It looks like—"

"Seattle." the Doctor said, pointing at the Space Needle as it towered over the city.

"City or planet?"

"City."

"There's a _planet?"_ Lena interrupted.

"Oh, yeah. Barcelona's a planet too," Rose said.

"Yeah, I know," Lena laughed. "All those funny dogs with no noses. I'm glad that you did end up still having a nose, Doctor."

"Yeah, me too!"

"Although," Rose said slyly, "seems like he would be worse off without that tongue of his."

Lena snorted.

"Oi!" The Doctor looked offended—and embarrassed. A blush crept over his cheeks.

"Oh, come on. We all know you love licking everything."

"True," Lena said. The Doctor looked like he was going to start pouting, so she quickly changed the topic. "So we know we're in Seattle, but when are we, exactly?" The Doctor stuck his tongue out, making them laugh, and then got serious.

"Like I said, city of Seattle. 2007, actually, so not that far in your future, Rose. Or your past, Lena."

"Wait, past?" Rose asked, turning to Lena.

"Yeah. I'm from 2013," Lena told her. "Actually, it's almost the new year. I was making plans to go ice skating with my best friend on New Year's Eve..." she trailed off. "Anyway, I still can't believe I actually ended up here. I keep thinking it's just a really realistic dream or something, but the rest of the time I kind of know it's real."

"Wow," Rose said. "So I'm actually even older than you than I thought."

"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in. Fact still remains that I'm seventeen, regardless of the weird year discrepancies, so I'm not _that_ much younger."

"Anyway," the Doctor interrupted. "Why would the Tardis land us here?"

"Use that super sense of yours and figure out what dastardly plot we have to foil this time," Rose teased. The Doctor just sighed.

"Why don't we head off towards the Space Needle and see what happens? Either we find the problem on our way there or we end up getting a nice little sightseeing visit. I'm happy either way." The girls agreed and started walking.

"The second option sounds pretty nice," Rose said. "It'll be neat to see the Space Needle in person. I've never been."

"I have," Lena said. "I went with some relatives I was visiting. It has a cool elevator."

They had only walked a couple of blocks when the Doctor suddenly stopped short, almost causing Rose and Lena to walk into him.

"What?" Lena asked. Rose shushed her. The Doctor was peering around with a look of intense concentration on his face. He scanned the sonic over nothing in particular, then peered at it in confusion.

"Well, that can't be right. You're not supposed to be here," he muttered. Suddenly he sprinted off down a side street, leaving Rose and Lena to hurry after him.

"Doctor!" Lena huffed as she ran. "What's not right? What's going on?"

"There's a type of energy in this city that shouldn't even exist for three more centuries! Someone—or something—is tampering with established history, and we're going to go fix it!"

**Sorry it's so short! :( The next chapter will be longer, I promise. Remember to review and check out the poll on my profile... Stay awesome, guys! :)**

**~Starlight**


	7. Chapter 7: The Warehouse

Several minutes later, Lena leaned against the side of a building and tried to catch her breath. The Doctor was fine and Rose was only slightly winded, but Lena was wholly unused to the kind of running that she had just had to do.

"You're going to need to get into shape fast if you want to help save the world," Rose teased.

"I am in shape!" Lena retorted. "I'm just not used to running. I train for swimming, not track or cross country!"

"Well, you will now!" the Doctor said.

"So what kind of energy are we talking about?" Rose asked.

"Soranic. It's a by-product of all those human star liners zipping about in space, a sort of leftover residue from the flux capacitors—"

"They have flux capacitors? Really? Like in _Back to the Future?" _Lena asked.

"Of course not! That movie got it all wrong. The real things in the future are nothing like what was in that ridiculous car. The humans named them flux capacitors as a joke because their inventor hated that movie so much."

"Oh."

"But the thing is, the energy is harmless to people in that time period. Over the centuries they've gotten much more resistant to the effects and results of interstellar travel. Right now the Soranic energy level in this city is very, very mild, not enough to hurt anyone, but if it rises much higher...for twenty-first century humans, it could get very bad very quickly."

"So basically, we track the energy to it's source, find who's behind it, uncover their plan, foil said plan, and fix everything so no one gets hurt?"

"Basically."

"Well what are we waiting for?"

"My sonic," the Doctor said, a bit grumpily. He turned to look at Rose and held his hand out expectantly.

"What?" she asked, attempting to look innocent.

"You know what. The sonic's not in my pocket, and I distinctly remember you initiating that tickle fight earlier. I know you have the sonic, Rose. Hand it over."

Rose sighed. "Oh, all right. But honestly, I'm surprised it took you this long to notice."

"It's been a busy day!" the Doctor protested.

"So, sonic?" Lena said. "Scan?"

"Right," the Doctor said, making the sonic buzz as he turned in a circle. When he was pointing it down the nearest park pathway, it started emitting a high-pitched beep. "Ha! Gotcha. Come on!" he called over his shoulder as he ran off into the park, dashing off to wherever the sonic screwdriver led.

Two hours, several bruises, eight wrong turns, and two traumatized rabbits later, The Doctor, Rose, and Lena finally reached their destination, which was apparently an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the shipping district.

"Spooky," Lena commented, peering up at the building and noting its steel-reinforced windows and numerous KEEP OUT signs. Then, feeling incredibly and unnaturally bold compared to her usual self, she climbed over the gated fence and dropped down on the other side. "Coming?" she asked. She was feeling rather proud of herself until the Doctor gave her an amused look and sonicked the gate open for himself and Rose to go through.

"You could have just come in the easy way," the Doctor said.

"My brain prefers to find complicated solutions to everything, apparently," Lena grouched.

They made it down the now not-very-safe-looking old stairs down to the warehouse basement. The entire place was made of metal, concrete, and unfinished wood. Everything the Doctor's sonic lit up was covered in dirt, dust, and damp. Lena yanked her hand back after feeling the side of a wooden crate.

"Gross!" she said, looking at the wood as if it had personally insulted her.

"What?" Rose asked

"It's all disgusting and wet and cold!" Lena vigorously scrubbed her hand against the side of her jeans.

"It's just slime," the Doctor began before being cut off by a withering look from Rose.

"That's what you said on Centurania Six, Doctor. Remember what happened there?"

"What?" Lena asked, interested now.

"It was..." the Doctor mumbled something unintelligible at the end of his sentence, looking uncomfortable.

"What? It was what?"

"Alien bogeys!" Rose shrieked. Her voice echoed around the cavernous space, bouncing off concrete walls and rebounding off of metal bars and cages. "_Radioactive_ alien bogeys!"

"Yeah, well, that wasn't my fault. I wasn't the one who decided to poke the sack and see what was in it," the Doctor retorted.

"But you said it was 'just slime!'" Rose said. "We could've gotten sick or something."

"But we didn't."

"But we could've!"

"Guys?" Lena asked. "Please tell me _this _isn't radioactive or anything." The Doctor scanned the crates around them.

"Nope, all fine. Just your usual wood slime from mold, mildew, and decomposition," he said cheerfully, continuing on ahead.

"Oh, well that's nice," Lena said sarcastically. Rose laughed.

"That's weird," the Doctor said, stopping by a looked steel door.

"And cliched," Lena added. She waved her hand dismissively at the door. "Thick metal door, clearly newer than the rest of the stuff down here, heavy-duty padlock...I'll bet you it's deadlocked."

"Yep," the Doctor said.

"There you go. Perfect scary movie scene." She shivered. "Even nice and chilly." The Doctor frowned.

"You're cold?"

"Well, yeah. Aren't you?"

"No. Rose?"

"Nope."

Lena shivered again. "Weird. But it's still the perfect scene."

"You know, you've got a point," Rose said. "It's almost cheesy."

"Well, regardless, we need to find the energy source. Any ideas on how to get through that door?" The Doctor said.

"Try the key," Lena said.

"What key?" the Doctor said, confused.

"That key," she replied, pointing to a hook on the wall-right next to the door. A scuffed metal key hung on it.

"Huh," the Doctor said as he held the door open for Lena and Rose. "That was surprisingly easy. Clearly whoever's doing stuff down here didn't think anyone would come looking, because they're certainly not doing a very good job of keeping people out."

"That's too simple. And a bit thick," Rose said. "I'm sure there's another reason. If they didn't think anyone would come looking, why have such a thick door and a lock?"

"Oh!" the Doctor smacked his forehead. "Oh, I've been thick!"

"What?" Rose asked bemusedly as the Doctor picked her up and swung her around happily.

"Do we just spend most of our time saying 'what', then?" Lena said. The other two ignored her.

"You, Rose Tyler, are brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Why such a strong door? Why the lock? What's the point of keeping people out if you just have the key sitting right there?"

"There isn't one," Rose said.

"Exactly. Unless they're meant to keep someone—or something—_in."_

_Hello! Nice, long chapter this time. Tell me what you think! ;) Stay awesome._

_-Starlight_


	8. Chapter 8 Metal Child

"Knew you'd figure it out," Rose said happily as she hugged the Doctor.

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Lena said, and they looked at her. "But all that begs the question...what is it that they're keeping in? 'Cause I feel like that would be good to know, seeing how we're stuck in here with it now." She jerked her thumb at the door, which during the commotion had sealed itself shut again. There was no way out from the inside.

"Oh, that's not good." the Doctor tried to find a hidden unlocking mechanism, but to no avail.

"They must tag team it," Rose said.

"At least one on the outside and one on the inside at all times," Lena mused. "That way no one gets locked in. There would always be someone to let them out."

"Except for us, because we just waltzed in like we usually do." Rose grinned. "Might be a good idea to stop and look first every now and then."

"Well then!" the Doctor said, spinning around. "Since we won't be getting out through here anytime soon, we might as well start looking for another way out."

"And figuring out what's going on here, right?" Lena asked.

"Of course!" He turned the sonic on. "Right. Follow those beeps!"

After a while, they were led to a room holding nothing but a strange metal machine and a chair with restraints on it. After a quick survey, the Doctor couldn't tell what the machine was for. But they all agreed that the restraints weren't a good sign. Lena shivered again. She'd been getting progressively colder as they had walked. The Doctor looked concerned as he took off his long coat and handed it to Rose before shrugging off his suit jacket.

"Are you feeling all right?" He asked as he rested the back of his hand against Lena's forehead. She nodded.

"I'm fine. Just really cold," she said, shivering again as if to emphasize the point.

"No fever, so I don't suppose it could be chills," the Doctor mused as he settled his jacket around Lena's shoulders.

"Thanks," she said gratefully, pulling it tight. It was enormous on her, since she was only about five feet and the Doctor was quite.

"Let me know if it gets worse," the Doctor said seriously as he took his coat back from Rose. "I don't like it. Usually I'd chalk something like this up to you being human, but Rose doesn't seem to be any more affected than I am. Something's off."

"I'm fine, honestly," Lena insisted.

"Just promise you'll let me know."

"Okay. I promise. Can we go see what's down the hall now?"

"Yup. Come on!" The Doctor grabbed the girls' hands in his and pulled them off down the hall in a sprint. Just outside one of the numerous closed doors, they heard the unmistakable sound of quiet sobbing. Pushing open the door, they couldn't help softening a bit at the sight that lay before them. A child, a young girl who couldn't be older than seven or eight, was huddled in a corner of a small, bare room, crying softly into her arms.

"Hello," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor, and these are my friends, Rose and Lena." The sniffling stopped.

"Are you all right?" Rose said sympathetically, taking a step forward. "Can we help you?" The girl slowly raised her head, and they gasped, horrified. Her skin was half covered in metal plates and bolts. As they watched, as single tear slid from one of her eyes and onto the metal, rolling down until it dripped off onto her dirty and faded pants.


	9. Chapter 9: Bad News

"Oh my gosh," Lena said, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Who would do this?"

"It's _barbaric,_" Rose agreed.

"It's Cyber tech." the Doctor said grimly.

"Doctor, give me the sonic." Lena's voice was frighteningly calm. The Doctor silently handed it to her. She stalked out of the room, her face hard. Rose knelt down beside the little girl and pulled her into a giant hug, looking sadly at the Doctor. He was smiling gently at the child, but behind the smile Rose could see the stirrings of the Oncoming Storm. The Doctor swept into the hall after Lena, who was methodically opening every door she came across. Behind them were people in varying states of pain. Some had barely had anything done to them yet, some had been almost completely covered. One man hadn't been touched yet, but he was unconscious. They figured he had most likely been drugged.

Flinging open the last door, Lena saw two twin brothers asleep, holding each others' hands. The metal plating stood out in harsh contrast to their dark skin. Lena growled under her breath as she checked to make sure they would be all right on their own for a while before standing and walking back into the hallway—and straight into the Doctor.

He caught her by the shoulders as she stumbled and helped her regain her balance. What Rose had seen in the Doctors' eyes was now visible on Lena's face. She was outraged, and her strong feelings on justice were making themselves evident. The Doctor was momentarily struck by a great sadness. She was too young. She should never have had to see anything like this. But then she looked him in the eye and, seemingly, read his mind.

"You're not getting rid of me, especially not now. It's completely different, you know, seeing things like this on the show and then seeing it for real. I used to think I understood, that I empathized with everyone. I knew what it would be like and how I'd react. But now..." Lena shrugged. "I understand everything much more clearly. And whoever did this is going to be held accountable." She paused for a moment, glancing over into one of the rooms, where an older man watched silently. _"After_ we make sure all of these people are all right." She looked at the Doctor. "So what do we do now?"

"Find someone who can talk, and find out what exactly has been going on."

That someone turned out to be a university student named Henry. He hadn't had much done to him yet, but he'd been around for a while.

"They don't use us adults quite as much as the children," he told them. "Apparently, we're harder to work with. Children's minds are more open and creative, so they're more useful."

"Who's they?" Rose asked.

"The metal monsters. The Cybermen. They're trying to turn us into them—only better, or something like that."

"But why not do the full conversions like usual?" the Doctor asked. "That's what I don't get."

"Because they wanted to try something new, something clever. They have new technology and they wanted to test it out."

"Hang on," Lena said. "How do you just happen to know all this?"

"The Cybermen tell us when they bring us in," Henry replied smoothly.

"But why would they do that?" the Doctor said. "It's not exactly in character for them."

"None of us have any chance of getting out, so we can't tell anyone. Plus, they're very proud of their recent progress." The man suddenly seemed to deflate. Lena and the Doctor felt a bit bad for doubting him.

"Right," the Doctor said brightly. "We're going to fix this, and get everyone here back to their usual human selves."

"Can you really do that?" Henry looked hopeful.

"'Course we can!" the Doctor said, smiling confidently. "You lot aren't fully converted, so it should be possible as long as we're careful."

"Good," Henry said. "Any way I can help? We'd all really like to get out of here."

"What is the process they use to convert you all into these...new versions of Cybermen?"

"They call us Cyberplanners. It's a several-step process. It starts with little things—there are little things in the air here that set to work altering your biology as soon as you enter. Everyone ends up getting sick. It's awful."

_Aha,_ Lena thought. _So this must be when it all starts with the Cyberplanners. They must keep working on the process and technology until it gets to the point where the Doctor encountered it on that one abandoned planet with Clara and the kids. I wonder how long it was for the Cybermen..._

"What kind of changes? What are the symptoms?" the Doctor demanded. Henry shrugged.

"It's different for different people. For me, it was like I had suddenly come down with severe arthritis—everything hurt for days. For her, though—" he pointed at Lena, who froze.

"What?" She gasped.

"What do you mean, _for her?"_ The Doctor growled.

"Can't you see it?" the man asked. "I don't know why it isn't affecting you, but it's clearly working on her already. She's gone all pale, and her eyes have that weird colorless tint to them. She's cold, too. That happens to a lot of people. Metal holds no warmth."

"No!" Lena said, scared. She involuntarily took a step back from the Doctor. "No, I'm fine!"

"Lena, I'm so sorry." The Doctor looked so incredibly sad it hurt Lena to see it. "Henry's right." He scanned her with the sonic. "There are nanogenes here, hijacked nanogenes. They're affecting you."

"But you're fine," Lena protested.

"Time Lord," the Doctor said simply.

"What about Rose?"

"Rose! You're right. I have to see if she's okay!" the Doctor dashed off to find Rose. A few minutes later, he had declared her unaffected, though he didn't know why.

"Could it be because of Bad Wolf?" Lena suggested. The Doctor looked at Rose thoughtfully.

"Maybe. But that's a question for later. Right now, we have to figure out a way to reverse these conversions. I am _not _going to lose you to the Cybermen."


	10. Chapter 10: Humanness

Over the next several hours, Lena's chills got progressively worse. The Doctor and Rose bundled her up as best as they could, because she insisted on staying with them instead of resting. They couldn't let her in the Tardis and risk the Tardis being invaded by the hostile nanogenes, though the Doctor would have been much happier for her to be safely in the med bay. Instead he settled for a metal band she wore around her wrist that kept a close eye on her condition and would alert him if anything changed. Her temperature was slowly but surely dropping as time passed, and her it wouldn't be long before her core temperature got dangerously low. Henry sadly told them that she was the most drastic example of the chills symptom he'd seen since the Cybermen had taken him.

"It usually isn't this dramatic," he said.

"Well, t-t-that's me, I suppose," Lena said wryly. "Just ask the D-Doctor. I can't seem to have anyt-t-thing happen to me normal-l-lly. I didn't just run into him. Oh, no, I had to p-p-pop over from a whole d-different universe." She shook her head. "Just my l-l-l-luck." Rose laughed and gave Lena a little hug.

"Don't worry, it'll all work out. I'm pretty jeopardy friendly, but no matter how many close calls I have, the Doctor always sorts things out in the end."

"I kn-n-now," Lena sighed. "But it doesn't make the freezing any more p-p-pleasant."

They were making rather good progress until the Cybermen showed back up. Then everything turned into chaos. The Doctor frantically tried to get everyone to safety, but about half of the people, including Lena, were trapped with the Cybermen. The rest of them had made it into the Tardis, surrounded by a containment field to keep any rogue nanogenes from escaping.

He was grim as he piloted the Tardis straight into the heart of the Cybermen's operation. Rose stayed out of his way. He didn't let anyone come with him.

After what seemed like an eternity, he came back to the Tardis with Lena in tow, who looked much the worse for wear. Several UNIT agents had come along to collect the other affected humans and help them recover per the Doctor's instructions. The Doctor made sure that UNIT knew how to reverse the effects of the Cyberman technology—showing them the first little girl, who he had already fixed up—then piloted the Tardis into the vortex. Lena was shaking like a leaf on the jump seat, still surrounded by a containment field. The Doctor quickly got rid of the nanogenes and bottled them up in a jar. Rose threw blankets around the now-much-warmer Lena, who was still much too cold for the Doctor's liking.

The Doctor and Rose proceeded to tuck her up in bed with heated blankets, fleece pyjamas, and a mug of hot tea, which was supremely appreciated.

"Well," Lena said, "that was quite a first adventure."

"No kidding," Rose said.

"I'm kind of mad, though."

"Why?"

"I didn't get to do anything! I just kind of sat around like some lame damsel in distress. I was hoping to be awesome and save the world but instead I got stuck freezing my face off in a lame old warehouse."

"That's not true!" the Doctor protested. "You were the one who stopped them in the end. You figured out which button it was. Not even I could do it."

"Yeah, right."

"No, I mean it. I don't have that wonderful humanness that you used to solve it. You humans, bumbling around in your crazy habits and flawed logic and quirks. But that's exactly what you needed today."

"Why? What happened?" Rose asked.

"Lena," the Doctor said, "just demonstrated the human race in a nutshell."

"Which would be?"

"Evaluate a problem, apply logic to come up with a reasonable conclusion, and then completely disregard said conclusion to go with simple instinct and intuition. Which aren't really simple at all, but that's a conversation for another day. A.k.a., she decided on one button and then pressed the other one at the last second, which happened to be a very good decision."

"I just pressed a button," Lena said.

"You saved a lot of people."

"Oh, just shut up and take the credit!" Rose said. She grinned at Lena. "Might be the last time he ever lets ya."

"Fine! Okay! I pressed a button and fixed stuff and stopped a bunch of bad stuff from happening. But honestly, all I really cared about was getting warm. Survival instincts, you know. I get a one-track mind when I'm cold." She paused, tilting her head. "Or hot. Or soaked. Or startled. I can be unbelievably clumsy on a routine basis, but poke me—"

The Doctor couldn't resist. He jabbed Lena in the side, right on a tickle spot. He had barely made contact when Lena's arm had already lashed out and whacked his hand out of the way to kingdom come.

"—and I turn in to a crazy spider-monkey-turtle-Batman-ninja."

"Ow!" the Doctor said indignantly, holding his poor sore hand.

"Your fault," Lena said with a shrug. "I did try to warn you. I don't know, insensitive bloody Time Lord, I've no sympathy at all." She cracked up at her own reference. The Doctor and Rose didn't get it for a moment, but once they did it was a full-blown laughter attack that turned into a violent pillow fight, cushions and pillows and blankets hurtling through the air until all three of them plopped down, exhausted but happy.

Hi everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed favorited, and followed. You guys make my day. ^_^ Hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing-I whas pressed for time, so I had to summarize... :/

Anyway, stay awesome!

~Starlight


	11. Chapter 11: 'Night, Tardis

They watched a couple of Harry Potter movies before going to sleep. By that time Lena was quite toasty and eagerly wishing for the next day to come so that they could go on another adventure—hopefully this time more successful on her end. But the other two informed her that after a day like the one they'd just had, they usually took the next day off to just relax on the Tardis.

"Want to go swimming with me tomorrow?" Rose asked.

"Sure! I haven't gotten to swim for a while, since it's the middle of winter. _Was _the middle of winter. Whatever."

"And we can make banana waffles for breakfast!" the Doctor said brightly. "And banana smoothies."

"I want strawberry," Lena said. The Doctor made a face.

"But that's _boring._ Bananas are better."

"Not for my smoothies," Lena insisted. "I want strawberry, and that's final."

"Me too, actually," Rose said.

"Fine," the Doctor sighed dramatically. "You win."

"Hey Doctor?" Lena said as they were leaving to head to their own rooms.

"Yeah?"

"Can I decorate my room?"

"'Course. Not tonight—we all need to go to bed. But tomorrow you can work on it. And I bet the Tardis'll give you a computer and iPod and all that if you ask nicely."

"Awesome!"

"Night, Lena," the Doctor said before turning off the lights.

"Night, Doctor. Night, Rose," Lena called back as she snuggled under the covers, hugging the teddy bear the Tardis had so nicely provided for her.

"Night," Rose replied as they closed the door.

Lena lay quiet for a while, but after a while she still couldn't sleep. She had too many questions running through her head.

"Tardis?" she said, rolling over to look at the dim ceiling above her. "Sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just wondering about how you really communicate...'cause, you know, in the show the Doctor says you're telepathic and all that, but he never goes into detail about what that means. And then in tons of the fanfictions you talk to the companions and the Doctor just like a regular person. And you just generally seem more alive—flashing lights, humming, moving things around. Those things were hinted at in the show, but never really shown. I can't help wondering what's true and what's made up." She paused and shook her head. "Look at me, talking to a sentient spaceship. I feel ridiculous."

_Oh, you're not ridiculous at all. I find you quite nice to listen to._

Lena fell out of the bed.

"Oh my gosh," she choked out. "Oh you sexy girl, you. I always hoped it was true. You really do talk to people!"

_Well, __**obviously**_.

"Sorry, I just thought maybe it was only the Doctor you could speak with, and maybe only through feelings and such. I didn't know you could talk to anyone."

_I'm always able to. I simply don't often choose to. You're special in that regard._

"And Rose?"

_The Doctor knows I speak with her sometimes. But Rose and I share a special connection. She looked straight into my very heart, and no one else has ever done that or ever will._

"She's Bad Wolf." The lights dimmed for a second, and a chill swept through the room momentarily.

_Names have power, Lena Siteman, _the Tardis said gravely._ You should remember that. Bad Wolf is not a name to be thrown about casually. It has the power to raise up races and topple empires, bring the dead back to life and commit total genocide. It is not wise to mention Bad Wolf unless absolutely necessary._

"I'm sorry," Lena said, chastised.

_Don't feel bad, my firefly. I just needed to teach you that names are important and dangerous things now so you don't make a terrible mistake in the past. I mean future. Sorry. Tenses are difficult..._

Lena laughed. "I know. You said so before."

_Did I? Oh, you mean when I'm in that tiny little person body with the raggedy dress and there's the next Doctor on the planet that isn't a planet, that evil thing that eats Tardises. And the biting! I like biting. It's like kissing—_

"Only there's a winner," Lena finished. She laughed. "Can we make my room cool?"

_When you wake, firefly._

"Why do you call me firefly?"

_Spoilers, sweetie. _

"I really hate that word."

_Not as much as the Doctor._

"True. Can I have a laptop and an iPod, too?"

_Of course. And a cell phone, for safety when you're out. Best to be able to stay in touch with Rose and the Doctor. And I have the whole internet from your universe saved, so you can still have all your old files and music and whatnot. Plus you'll be able to finish all those fanfictions you love reading so much, _the Tardis said, teasingly.

"Oi! I don't need them _that _badly. I could live without them if necessary. But...only if _absolutely_ necessary. I really, really love fanfiction." Lena sighed. "Okay, you're right. I need those fanfictions. Hi, my name is Lena, and I'm a fanficaholic." The Tardis laughed. "Thanks so much for everything. It's going to be awesome having my own stories and poems and music again. I miss my iPod."

_I know. You'll get one tomorrow. But for now, it's time for you to sleep. Rose has gone to bed, and so has the Doctor, surprisingly; he doesn't often sleep. But then, he has had a draining last few days. Sleep, Lena. Don't worry about anything. Just sleep. And when you wake up, I'll be waiting to set up your room._

Soft instrumental music began wafting around the room as Lena closed her eyes.

"Good night...Idris," Lena whispered.

_Mmm. I always have liked that name. Goodnight, little one. Sleep well._

That night, Lena slept better than she ever had before. The Tardis watched over her three sleeping passengers, just as she always did.

**Hi everyone! Sorry this took a while. Life was insane and then I uploaded the wrong chapter when I was using my friend's computer and yeah. But hopefully I'll get the next chapter up sooner—you're going to like it. ;) Thanks for reading and all your lovely reviews, favorites, and follows! You guys are the best. Stay awesome!**

**~Starlight**


	12. Chapter 12: Day Off

Lena was not gently woken up by the Tardis like she had expected. No, she was jerked awake by Rose's shriek and a loud _thump_, which were quickly followed by two voices laughing hysterically. Lena had initially tried to jump out of the bed in surprise, but ended up dangling upside-down halfway off the side.

"Oh, yeah. Just great. Of course that's how I wake up. For Pete's sake, can't I just wake up in a normal way for once in my life? Is that really so much to ask?" She huffed exasperatedly as she ripped the blankets off of herself and threw them at the bed.

_Good morning to you, too, sunshine._

"Sorry."

_No worries! I understand. Heads up, Doctor and Rose incoming._

"What? Oh," Lena said, as the Doctor knocked before throwing the door open, dragging Rose in behind him.

"Moooooorning!" He sang, doing a little mini-dance with Rose. Lena couldn't help but smile. She loved seeing all the little affectionate things they did with each other. Rose and t he 10th Doctor were her OTP, and she was determined to get them together if it killed her. There was no way she was going to let them get to Doomsday and everything without telling each other the truth.

"Morning," she replied. "Ever heard of privacy?"

"Believe me," Rose said. "There is _no _privacy when this one's around. You have to lock yourself in the bathroom."

"Ah, thanks." Lena said, grabbing the outfit the Tardis had picked out for her, mentally thanking the old girl. "Duly noted." Taking Rose's advice, she shut herself in the bathroom and finally looked at her clothes.

"Oh, right! Forgot I promised to go swimming with Rose. Thanks!" she told the Tardis, pulling on a hot pink swimsuit.

_No problem._

She zipped up her jeans and pulled on a plain maroon v-neck t-shirt before lacing up her now-gold trainers and stepping out into her bedroom—only to get momentarily disoriented because her bedroom wasn't there. Instead, she found herself in the console room, where Rose was just carrying in a tray of three mugs of tea.

"Which one's mine?" Lena asked excitedly.

"Black one," Rose answered, handing the blue mug to the Doctor as he popped out from around the console. "Ready to swim? Or do you want to eat breakfast first?"

Lena shrugged. "I'm not really hungry yet. Let's swim."

"All right. Come on!"

By the time they made it to the indoor water park, their tea was long gone and they were more than eager to jump in. After plenty of time going off diving boards, down water slides, and playing tag, they finally got out and changed into their clothes while the Tardis nicely dried their hair for them in seconds.

After that, Rose went to spend some time in a garden. The Doctor showed Lena the library, which she sufficiently freaked out over for his tastes. After she loaded up with somewhere in the vicinity of so-many-she-could-no-longer-see-where-she-was-going-or-keep-her-balance-so-the-Doctor-had-to-carry-some-of-them books, he dropped her off back at her room to "go play," as he put it. And play she did.

She loaded up her new iPod and laptop with all her old things plus extra, cranked up the volume on the stereo system, and danced all over the room as she redecorated: flinging arms around to paint the walls and ceiling with color, snapping her fingers for knick-knacks, stomping the floor to play around with carpets, and vaulting off new furniture as it materialized under her. She went crazy jumping all over the place to "Who Let the Dogs Out" when the Tardis opened up a new door next to her bathroom that let to a room completely made out of trampolines and bouncy things. After getting tired out, she went back to the main part of her room and flopped on the bed with her laptop to catch up on fanfictions while singing to Owl City. She couldn't sing very well, but she loved to anyway (when she was alone).

It was tricky, reading the fanfictions, because she had to work extremely hard to stop herself from reviewing chapters. It would cause no end of panic and trouble for her to suddenly come back from the dead online. But when she saw the heartfelt notes and dedications her friends had been posting in their stories in remembrance of her, she had to turn the computer off for a while.

As she listened to her "Sad" playlist—"Song for Ten," "Fix You," and "Iris," among others—she lay flat on her back and tried not to cry as the Tardis tried to comfort her and listen to her story. It had been rough for her during the last several months. She'd fought off a bout of depression during the summer and fall, and things had started getting better when the bad news came. Her dad had gotten diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer after he had suddenly started getting severe cramps and having trouble breathing. Her mom had been devastated.

Lena had too, but her mum was a wreck. Lena had to be strong for her mom throughout it all. They both kept up cheerful exteriors for her dad throughout the last-ditch-effort chemotherapy treatments and the terrible symptoms and side effects that followed. But nothing had worked, and that's how Lena had found herself in the car during that blizzard, desperately trying to reach the hospital in time.

She was crying now, as she told was telling Tardis everything. Unbeknownst to her, the Tardis had led the Doctor and Rose in as well. They had been sitting on the floor listening almost the whole time. The tears in Rose's eyes matched Lena's.

"How did you find out?" the Doctor asked softly, as Lena had stopped talking, staring at the ceiling. She had gotten lost in the memory. His voice startled her, but before she could start asking questions and kick them out, the Tardis crashed down upon her mind with a calming effect and Lena decided it didn't really matter that much.

"We had been at the hospital for two days straight. He finally made us go home around lunch time to get some proper food and sleep. We woke up around dinner time, and shortly after the call came from the hospital. Mum put it on speaker—that's a deal we have—had—neither one would know something the other didn't. It was only fair that way, you know?" She paused for a moment. "I still remember the nurse's voice. She was trying to be so matter-of-fact, but I could hear the compassion and sympathy she was feeling..._'Mrs. Siteman? _She'd said. _'You should come.'_ '_Now?' _my mum asked. _'Could we wait for a while until the storm lets up? It's pretty nasty outside.' _The nurse didn't say anything for a second, but I'll never forget what she said next. It was the most serious I have ever heard anyone's voice in real life. _'If it were me,'_ she said, '_I'd come right now. I'm so sorry. He doesn't have much time.' _So we ran out the door and...well, you know what happened next."

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor said, and he meant it. "I understand."

"Me too," Rose sniffed, agreeing with both of his statements.

"I know," Lena said. She slid off the bed and sat in between them. They all sat together, remembering the losses in their lives and silently supporting each other until the Tardis mentally gave them all a kick in the rear and forced them to cheer up by dumping them unceremoniously in the ball pit.

"You have a ball pit?" Lena asked.

"Apparently," the Doctor said, blinking in surprise. Suddenly he was thwacked solidly in the back of his head with a ball. He whirled to see Rose smirking evilly, another two balls ready to fire. "Oh, you're on!" he said with a mad grin, and what was possibly the longest, most intense ball pit fight of all time commenced. They finally stumbled out of the room, balls swirling out into the hallway around their feet, hours later. Barely awake enough to say goodnight coherently, they all headed off to bed.

I worked extra- hard to get this chapter up fast for you guys! :) Stay awesome.

~Starlight


	13. Chapter 13: The Impossible Planet, Pt 1

After they were all up and ready the next morning, they held on for dear life as they traveled to the next destination. Lena was both excited and nervous to find out where in their timelines the Doctor and Rose were. She knew it had to be either before School Reunion or after Age of Steel, because Mickey wasn't anywhere to be found. The Tardis finally landed and they stepped out. The Doctor looked a bit concerned.

"I don't know what's wrong though. She's sort of...queasy. Indigestion—like she didn't want to land."

Rose looked at him. "Oh if you think there's gonna be trouble...we could always get back inside and go somewhere else." All three of them looked at each other for a second before cracking up. The Doctor looked around for a moment.

"I think we landed inside a cupboard," he said, "Here we go."

"_Open Door 15," _a computerized voice said. Suddenly Lena remembered what episode—or rather, episodes—it was. _The Impossible Planet. _And _The Satan Pit._ This was going to be scary. But on the plus side, she might be able to get the Doctor to finally tell Rose, instead of chickening out.

"Some sort of base," the Doctor mused. "Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits." The door behind them closed, and the next one opened.

"Glad we're indoors. Sounds like there's a storm out there," Rose commented.

Fast forward a several minutes, past a concerned Doctor, an incident with messed-up Ood translator spheres, and some very confused humans, and Lena found herself being told by Captain Zach to hold on tight. She knew what was coming and looped her arms—and legs, for good measure—around the nearest railing. She didn't care if she looked ridiculous, she did _not _feel like being thrown around like a rag doll.

"Hold on to what?" Rose asked, not understanding what was going on.

"Anything!" Lena and the Captain said at the same time. Seeing Lena clinging to the railing like a monkey, Rose seemed to get the idea.

"What's this planet called, anyway?" the Doctor asked.

"Now, don't be stupid," Ida retorted. "It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name? You really don't know, do you?" She looked amazed.

"And impact!" Captain Zach yelled. Everything was a shuddering, shaking blur for a few moments, then everything went still.

The Doctor started to get up. "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad—" The earthquake hit again, much stronger. Consoles around the room burst into flames. When the shaking finally stopped, Captain Zach started making sure everyone was all right. "Okay, that's it. Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Danny?

"Fine."

"Toby?

"Yeah, fine."

"Scooti?"

"No damage."

"Jefferson?"

"Check!"

"We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us," the Doctor said, a bit miffed.

"The surface caved in," Zach reported, ignoring him. "I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."

"That's not my department," Toby complained.

"Just do as I say, yeah?" Captain Zach's voice allowed no arguments. Toby left.

"Oxygen holding," Ida reported. "Internal gravity fifty six point six. We should be okay."

Rose interrupted. "Never mind the earthquake! That's, that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"

"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum," Scooti said seriously.

"Then what's shaking the roof?" Lena demanded. She knew she was stealing one of Rose's lines, but she didn't want to stand around like an idiot the whole time.

Ida stared at them incredulously. "You're not joking. You really don't know... Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mister Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee."

"Not as boring as it sounds," Danny interjected. Lena shot him a grin. He smiled back, a bit uncertainly.

"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manista, Trainee maintenance. And this?" Ida said, indicating their surroundings, "This is home." She reached over and pulled down a lever.

Captain Zach warned the three time travelers, "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad."

Lena looked up, and even though she had known what was coming she couldn't help but gasp. The sight of it was frightening and beautiful and logical and mad all at once. She never thought she'd get to see something like that, and now that she had she wasn't quite sure she liked it. It was unnatural.

"That's a black hole," Rose said, gaping. Lena moved over and took her hand.

"But that's impossible!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"I did warn you," Captain Zach said.

"We're standing under a black hole," the Doctor said in awe.

"In orbit," Ida added.

"But we can't be!"

"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit."

_"But we can't be."_

"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."

"And that's bad, yeah?" Rose asked, still looking stunned.

"Very," Lena said, looking back up at the black hole.

"Bad doesn't cover it," the Doctor said. "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."

"So, they can't be in orbit," Rose said. "We should be pulled right in."

"We should be _dead,"_ the Doctor said.

"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board," Ida told them.

"But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" Rose said, looking at the swirling cloud of colors and light above them that hovered around the black hole.

"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing."

"Oh, you're all so cheerful," Lena grouched. They ignored her.

"So, a bit worse than a storm, then," Rose commented quietly.

"Just a bit," Ida agreed dryly.

"Just a bit, yeah." Rose looked solemnly at the black hole. Then the base shook again, but not as badly as before.


	14. Chapter 14: The Impossible Planet, Pt 2

**I am so, so sorry it's taken me so long to update! Life has been insane. A lot of my family members are seriously sick, and in addition to that I had to be out of town for a while. I'm sorry it's been such a long wait. I have the next several parts written already, so it will be much more regular for a while. I hope you like this chapter, and if you're not too mad at me, please review! **

They were back in the control room, and Lena was sitting against a control panel, bored. She knew all the action would be coming up soon, but she didn't have anything to do in the meantime. She'd already thought about where she wanted to be when it all went down. She had initially toyed with the idea of going down to see the Beast with the Doctor, but between the fact that she didn't want to get roared at and the fact that it would be extremely difficult to convince the Doctor to let her come along, she decided to stick with Rose, even though she really didn't want to get knocked out. She wasn't looking forward to that part.

As the others started in on their conversation about old legends about demons, and Rose learned about the Ood, Lena leaned back and closed her eyes, only catching snatches of the conversation as she dozed. She remembered one part in particular, and woke up somewhat for it.

"...you'd need a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds," the Doctor finished explaining.

"That's a lot of sixes," Rose commented, stating the obvious.

"And it's impossible," Lena interjected sleepily without bothering to open her eyes. What was coming? The Doctor hugging Captain Zach, the Doctor and Rose figuring out that they'd lost the Tardis, Rose trying to be brave but freaking out for just a minute, and Toby hearing the Beast. Lena decided to rejoin everyone when it was time for food. "Wake me up when things get interesting," she mumbled, pulling her legs up closer. She knew the Doctor had probably just shot her a look, but she didn't care as she was already falling asleep again.

A while later, Lena scrambled up from the floor, grouchy and uncomfortable. She had woken up at the wrong time of her sleep cycle and felt completely off, and in addition everyone had left without her. She took off running through the base, trying to find Rose and the Doctor. She ended up in the right place. Rose was just getting the "blue" on her plate. Lena grabbed a plate as well after nodding to the Doctor and waited as Rose spoke with the serving Ood.

"I did that job once," Rose told the Ood. "I was a, a dinner lady." Lena smiled, remembering the episode. She wished she could have met Sarah Jane and K9. "Not that I'm calling you a lady," Rose added quickly. "Although, I don't know, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?"

"The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God," the Ood replied. Rose gaped.

"I'm sorry?"

The Ood blinked. "Apologies. I said, I hope you enjoy your meal."

Rose eyed the Ood strangely. "Yeah..." Turning to walk away, she bumped into Lena. "Oh! Hi Lena. Getting some of the blue?" She smiled.

"Nope, think I'll try the green. For curiosity's sake."

"Go on, then. I'll save a seat for ya."

"Thanks!" Lena called as Rose headed off. Right now, The hologram in the control room would momentarily show the Beast, the computer would be telling Danny "He is awake," and the Devil would taunt Toby, who would then see his skin covered in ancient symbols and collapse. Lovely. She didn't join Rose, knowing that she and the Doctor needed to have their little chat. She'd always loved that one—how they were so awkward, and flirting without being able to acknowledge it. Lena vowed to make the Doctor tell Rose he loved her that day if it killed her. There was no way she could let the perfect opportunity that was coming up pass by.

Lena unceremoniously tipped her plate into the trash and ran over to the Doctor and Rose when Rose pulled out her phone, just in time to hear the voice on the other end say, _"He is awake."_

~Starlight~

In Ood Habitation:

"Evening!" The Doctor said as they walked in.

"Only us," Rose added.

"The mysterious couple!" Danny said. Lena cleared her throat. "And their plus one," he said with a teasing smirk. Lena made a face. "How are you, then? Settling in?"

"Yeah," the Doctor replied, distractedly. "Sorry, straight to business—the Ood, how do they communicate? I mean, with each other."

"Oh, just empaths," Danny said. "There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle." Lena had to stop herself from snapping at him angrily. Of course, it wasn't his fault. He didn't know the truth. Heck, the Doctor didn't even know the truth yet. She looked sadly down at the Ood, wishing there was some way to save them.

"This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" the Doctor asked.

"Because I was having dinner," Rose interjected, "And one of the Ood said something, well...odd."

"Hmm. An odd Ood." Lena laughed at Danny's joke.

"And then I got something else on my, er...communicator thing."

"Oh, be fair." Danny looked at them skeptically. "We've got whole star systems burning up around us; there's all sorts of stray transmissions. It's probably nothing. Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field—it's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."

The Doctor looked at a screen. "Monitor the field. That's this thing?" "Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register basic five." As he spoke, the readings rose from basic five up to nine.

"Well, that's not basic five," the Doctor said, interested. "Ten, twenty. They've gone up to basic thirty!"

Lena stepped back nervously from the railing as the Ood below lifted their heads in unison.

"But they can't!" Danny protested.

"Doctor, the Ood. What does basic thirty mean?" Rose asked.

"It means that they're screaming," Lena answered solemnly. "Or that something is screaming at them. Either way, it's not good." "But where is it coming from? What is it saying? What did it say to you?" Danny started to panic.

"Something about the beast in the pit," Rose said.

"What about your communicator? What did that say?"

Rose and Lena answered together, "He is awake."

_"And you will worship him," _the Ood said.

"What the hell?!" Danny exclaimed.

"He is awake," the Doctor tested them.

Like before, the Ood chorused,_ "And you will worship him." _

"Worship who?" the Doctor demanded. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" A few moments later, the base began to shake. The computer announced an emergency hull breach.

"Which section?" Danny asked.

"Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen!" Captain Zach's voice came on. "We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!" The Doctor grabbed Lena and Rose's hands and dragged them out of Ood habitation along with Danny. Lena threw one last regretful glance over her shoulder at the Ood before the door shut behind them. They ran back to the control room. Zach looked up, wild-eyed.

** "**I can't contain the oxygen field. We're going to lose it!"

~Starlight~

Out in the corridors, Jefferson was trying to get everyone to safety.

"Come on! Keep moving!" The crew flooded past, coming from numerous directions. "And you too, Toby!" The computer suddenly announced that the breach was sealed.

** "**We've lost sections eleven to thirteen," Zach announced. "Everyone all right?"

** "**We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report." There was no answer. "Scooti Manista? That's an order! Report!" There was still no answer.

"She's all right," Zach interrupted. "I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation three. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious." He turned to the Doctor, Rose, and Lena. "How about that, eh? We survived."

"Not all of us," Lena muttered, too quietly for anyone else to hear. She slumped into a chair. It was different, being there. People's deaths had been sad or tragic on the show, but being there for real made it really hurt. She wondered if she could have saved Scooti by making sure she was somewhere else. She hadn't remembered Scooti was going to die until just before it happened. She hadn't even thought.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't—I don't know," Toby replied shakily. "I was working, and then...I can't remember. All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air—"

"Come on, up you get," Rose told him. "Come and have some protein one."

"Oh, you've gone native," the Doctor teased. Lena snort-chuckled.

"Oi, don't knock it!" Rose protested to the two of them. Then she grinned. "It's nice. Protein one with just a _dash_ of three." Jefferson and Zach started communicating about Scooti. Lena tried to block them out without success.

"Scooti's still missing," Jefferson reported.

"It _says_ Habitation three!" Captain Zach said, frustrated.

"Yeah, well, that's where I _am_, and I'm telling you _she's not here_."

Then the Doctor said, very, very quietly, "I've found her." The others followed his gaze up through the open shutters, where the black hole was still visible—and so was Scooti.

"Oh, my God!" Rose whispered. Lena stood up and hugged her tightly, watching Scooti drift further off into space towards the black hole. "I'm sorry," the Doctor said solemnly. "I'm so sorry."

"She was twenty," Ida said, in shock. "Twenty years old." _Too young to be here, _Lena thought. _Too young to die._ Ida closed the shutters.

Jefferson began to quote. "'For how should man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods.'"

"Horatius," Lena said after a moment. "By Thomas Babington Macaulay."

"It's stopped," Ida said suddenly. A heavy silence fell.

"What was that? What was it?" Rose asked.

"The drill," the Doctor said, looking thoughtful.

"We've stopped drilling," Ida reported. "We've made it. Point Zero."

**Stay awesome, guys! I hope this was decently enjoyable. :)**

**~Starlight**


	15. Chapter 15: The Impossible Planet, Pt 3

Hi, everyone. My Grandpa died yesterday, and I'm trying to keep my mind off it, so you're getting this chapter a few hours early. Also, I want to clarify that Lena won't be doing a ton in TIP and TSP (because she's not comfortable messing around with things yet), but after that...look out, universe!

Stay awesome, everyone.

~Starlight

In the Drilling area, they heard Zach come on over the coms. "All non essential Oods to be confined," he announced.

"Capsule established," Ida reported. "All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go; bring systems online now." She was wearing an orange spacesuit.

"Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force," the Doctor announced cheerfully. He also wore a spacesuit.

"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol! We don't even know who you are!" Zach protested.

In his self-important way, the Doctor retorted, "Yeah, but you trust me, don't you? And you can't let Ida go down there on her own! Go on, look me in the eye. Yes you do, I can see it. Trust." Lena shook her head.

"I should be going down," Zach said, not answering the Doctor's assertion.

"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."

"Not much good at it, am I?" Zach said bitterly. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mister Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement."

The Doctor examined his suit with great interest. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity...It's ages since I wore one of these!" Rose walked over, bravely trying to hide her worry.

"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?"

"Yes, sir!" the Doctor replied.

"Cheeky!" Lena tossed at him as he put on his helmet. He stuck his tongue out at her in reply. Rose looked at the Doctor. "It's funny, because people back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about, and teleports, and anti gravity, but it's not, is it? It's tough."

"It is," Lena said. "It's like deep-sea diving. There's the quiet and the adrenaline and the amazing sights, yeah, but there's so much danger and painstaking preparation. It's not all fun and games. The universe doesn't change just because people are exploring—there's still love and fear and pain and joy and death. But life goes on just the same."

"I'll see you two later," the Doctor told them confidently.

"Not if I see you first!" Rose said. She kissed his helmet. Lena smiled. Not long now... Soon she'd get them to admit their feelings for each other. It was almost time.

"Capsule active," Zach announced. "Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..." The Doctor and Ida entered the capsule. Lena gave them a thumbs-up, then stepped back and took Rose's hand. Even though she knew what was going to happen, she couldn't help the adrenaline that was starting to flood through her body. "...Five, four, three two, one. Release." Rose and Lena followed the capsule's progress on the screen in front of them. Lena looked over and saw Rose biting her lip.

"They'll be okay, Rose," Lena said. Rose nodded clutching the , but Lena could tell she didn't believe her.

** "**You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own," Zach told the Doctor and Ida. They switched over to life support.

** "**Don't forget to breathe. Breathing's good," Rose said.

** "**Rose, stay off the com," Zach ordered.

** "**Not a chance, mister," Lena retorted.

"Those're my girls for you," The Doctor said with an amused smile. Suddenly, the capsule shuddered violently and fell, landing with a crunch. The Ood, Lena knew, had just stood up uncommanded, which would be freaking Danny and the guard out.

"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?" Rose cried.

"They've reached Point Zero," Lena said.

"Ida, report to me! Doctor?" Zach called, desperate for a response.


	16. Chapter 16: The Satan Pit, Part 1

"We're stabilising," Captain Zach anonunced. "We've got orbit."

"Doctor?" Rose pleaded into the com. "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?" Lena listened distractedly, painfully aware that the Ood were now fully possessed and out to kill everyone. She was trying to figure out where they were by that point, but couldn't remember the episode well enough.

"Rose, get ready to move. We're going to have to run soon," she warned.

"What?" Rose said, frazzled. "What do you mean? What's wrong? What's happened? Oh no! No, is it to do with the Doctor? Please tell me he's alive!"

"No, no, it's not the Doctor, it's the Ood—they're being possessed. They're killing people. We'll have to run for it. But not yet! Focus on the Doctor, Rose, focus on him." Rose needed no encouraging. She kept trying to contact the Doctor before Zach interrupted, having just communicated with Jefferson about the rampant Ood.

"Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose, what about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"

"I can't get a reply!" Rose said, sounding frantic. Lena patted her shoulder, unable to convince Rose that the Doctor really was all right. "Just, nothing. I keep trying, but its—"

Suddenly a static-y voice interrupted her. "No, sorry, I'm fine. Still here!"

"You could've _said,_ you stupid—" Rose shouted, near tears. Lena wasn't sure if they were from terror or relief or both. The end of her sentence was drowned out by loud feedback. Lena grimaced at the painful noise, her hands flying up to cover her ears. "You alright?" Rose asked.

"Green!" was all Lena could get out. Rose gave her a strange look.

Just then Doctor called back through the com. "Whoa. Careful! Anyway, it's both of us, Me and Ida. Hello.! But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."

"How deep is it?" Zach asked.

"Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever..."

Suddenly they all heard a voice say, "The pit is open."

"That's what the voice said!" Rose said, remembering the strange phone call.

"But there's nothing. I mean—there's nothing coming out?" Zach asked.

"No, no. No sign of the Beast," the Doctor confirmed.

"It said Satan," Rose said. Lena shuddered.

"Come on, Rose! Keep it together," the Doctor said.

"Is there no such thing?" Rose asked. "Doctor." He didn't answer. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."

"Ida?" Zach called. "I recommend that you withdraw." He paused. "Immediately."

"But we've com all this way!" Ida protested.

"Okay, that was an order. Withdraw! When that thing opened, the whole planet shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole." Lena inhaled sharply. It didn't matter that she knew what would happen in the end; to her, black holes were one of the most terrifying things in space. "So this thing stops now!" Zach finished.

"But it's not much better up there with the Ood," Ida pointed out stubbornly. Rose and Lena both glanced at the door to make sure they were still clear.

"I'm initiating strategy nine," Zach said, ignoring Ida, "so I need the two of you back up top immediately. No arg—" Ida shut off their com while he was in mid-sentence. "Ida. Ida!" Zach shouted in frustration. He slammed his hands down on the console in frustration.

Back in the drilling room, Rose turned to Lena. "What happens?" she demanded. "What are they doing down there?" Lena fumbled for a moment, reaching out to the Tardis for help.

_It's all right, you can tell her, _the Tardis said. _But only what my Thief and the human are doing. Nothing else. Nothing that is in her present or future, only what happens below._

"Ida's asking the Doctor what he thinks they should do, and they're debating whether or not to go further in. He's wondering if they didn't actually open the thing's cell—if maybe they only found the prison so far, not what's in it. And Ida wants to go down. He's debating it..." She trailed off for a moment. "Hang on, this was one of my favorite quotes he said. Let me see if I can remember. I think it was: 'Oh, in a second—but then again, that is _so_ human. Where angels fear to tread... Even now, standing on the edge. It's that feeling you get, eh? Right at the back of your head! That impulse. That _strange _little impulse. That mad little voice, saying _go on._ Go on, go on, go over, go on. Maybe it's relying on that. For once in my life, Officer Scott...I'm going to say retreat. Oh, now I know I'm getting old.'" Lena stopped as the Doctor's voice came over the com.

"Rose, Lena, we're coming back."

Rose grinned. "Best news I've heard all day." Suddenly, Jefferson aimed his gun at Toby. Rose said, shocked, "What are you doing?"

"He's infected!" Jefferson said. "He brought that thing on board, you saw it."

"Are you going to start shooting your own people now, Is that what you're going to do? Is it?" Rose said angrily.

"If necessary!"

Rose stepped in front of Toby. "Well then, you'll have to shoot me if necessary, so what's it going to be? Look at his face. Whatever it was, is gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." Lena watched Rose proudly. She was so wrong, but so very, very brave. That was the Rose she'd loved from day one. Heck, that was the Rose the Doctor had loved from day one.

Jefferson lowered his gun reluctantly. "Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him." He turned away.

"Are you all right?" Rose asked Toby.

"Yeah. I don't know."

"Can you remember anything?" she asked.

"Just, it was so angry. It was fury and rage and death. It was him. It was the devil!"

"Come on," Rose said, hugging him tightly. Down below, the Doctor and Ida were reentering the capsule. "What's strategy nine?" the Doctor asked.

"Open the airlocks," Ida said. "We'll be safe inside the lock down. The Ood will get thrown out into the vacuum."

"So we're going back to a slaughter?" the Doctor said, reproachfully.

Ida shrugged. "The Devil's work. Okay, we're in. Bring us up."

Jefferson called back, "Ascension in three, two, one." The power went out. The mysterious voice once again broadcasted over all the coms.

_**"This is the darkness. This is my domain." **_The monitors flickered on, showing the Ood. _**"You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the—"**_

"That's not the Ood. Someone's talking through them," Zach said.

_**"Only the darkness remains!"**_

"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself!"

_**"You know my name."**_Lena couldn't help shuddering.

"What do you want?"

_**"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."**_

"Not yet, it isn't," Lena muttered rebelliously.

"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Toby chanted in terror.

"If you are the Beast," the Doctor said, breaking the tension somewhat. "Which one, hmmm? 'Cause the universe has been busy since you've been gone! There're more religions than there are planets in the sky! The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash-Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond...which devil are you?"

_**"All of them," **_the voice replied haughtily.

"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?"

_**"This one knows me as I know him: the killer of his own kind." **_Lena and Rose both winced at the painful accusation. They knew the Doctor did his best to outrun his past, but that wound was still too raw.

"How did you end up on this rock?"

_**"The disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity."**_

"When was this?"

_**"Before time."**_

"What does that mean?" the Doctor demanded.

_**"Before time."**_

"What does before time mean?"

_**"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."**_

"That's impossible," the Doctor scoffed. "No life could have existed back then.

_**"Is that your religion?"**_

"It's a belief," the Doctor replied, not answering the question.

_**"You know nothing," **_the voice mocked. _**"All of you, so small. The captain, so scared of command..." **_Captain Zack looked startled. "_**The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." **_Lena looked at Jefferson, whose face was full of pain. _**"The little boy who lied." **_Danny sucked in a sharp breath. _**"The virgin,"**_it said, referring to Toby. _**"The lost girl, so far away from home—the valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." **_Rose stiffened.

"Doctor, what does that mean?" Rose asked fearfully.

"Rose, don't listen!" he told her.

"He's lying, Rose," Lena said firmly. "You're not going to die, I promise. You have a long time and a lot of things to do yet." Rose looked slightly assured.

_**"Ah, yes,"**_ the voice growled angrily. _**"And the anomaly. The girl who was never supposed to exist, but was allowed to regardless. Pity that you haven't the faintest idea of what's coming for you. So alone. I know all about that. No family, no friends."**_

"That's not true!" Lena snapped. "I have the Doctor and Rose, and the Tardis!"

_**"Foolish," **_the voice laughed. _**"You know what is to come. You know the tragedy that quickly approaches."**_

"Shut up!"

_**"Deny me all you want, but you can't change what's coming. Nothing will ever be the same after that...and the valiant child will not be alone in her death. You will make excellent company."**_

"Liar!" Lena shouted angrily. "You have no power over me! You know the future isn't written in stone. And who do you think you are, spouting observations and prophecies like a cheap conman at a fair? You've been locked up in a _hole_ for eternity. I don't think you're quite qualified to comment on life outside your stinking cell, you big fat lump of hot air."

_**"Perhaps I can make your death faster. Would that please you? You will die here, on this forsaken rock, and I will live to rise again."**_

"Fat chance, 'cause we're gonna stop you." The base shook for a moment. Lena, despite her bravado, was getting scared. This conversation had significantly derailed from what was supposed to happen. Now she didn't know what to do.

_**"I am the Beast! And you will fear me before I finally end your tiny mortal lives. Look upon me and tremble!"**_ he roared. An image of a raging horned Beast—rather like a Balrog, Lena thought—replaced the pictures of the Ood. Then it vanished and everyone started talking at once.

"What the _hell_ was THAT?!"

"I had that thing inside my head!"

"Doctor, what did it mean?"

"What do we do?"

"Captain? What's the situation on strategy nine?"

"Zach, what do we do?"

"Everybody, calm down! He's trying to mess with us, can't you see?" Lena had no luck getting anyone to listen.

"The planet, the orbit, the black hole—everything's true!"

"Captain, report!"

"We've lost pictures!"

"Doctor, how did it know all of—"

"Did anyone get an analy—"

"Jefferson—"

"Guys, come on, just calm—" Lena tried again.

"Stop!" the Doctor tried to tell them.

"What did it _mean_?"

"EVERYONE, JUST STOP!" The Doctor and Lena hollered at the same time.

**Sorry I couldn't put this up sooner; I just got back from my grandpa's wake. Stay awesome, guys!**

**~Starlight**


	17. Chapter 17: The Satan Pit, Part 2

**Hi everyone! I am so, so sorry it's being so long in between chapters! I no longer have acces to fanfiction except from my best friend's house, so... :( But anyway, here's a little something for now! Stay awesome.**

**~Starlight**

No one listened to them.

"What do we do?"

"Report!"

The Doctor sent painfully loud feedback through the coms, and everybody winced. Finally, he had their attention. "You want voices in the dark? Then listen to mine. That thing is playing on very basic fears—darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff."

"But that's how the Devil works," said Danny.

"Or a good psychologist," Lena retorted.

"Yeah, but how did it know about my father?" Ida argued.

"Okay," the Doctor said, "but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmmm? 'Cause I'll tell you what I can see: humans! Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket, _right_ into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery! Do you hear me? Amazing, all of you."

"Why, thank you!" Lena said.

"You're welcome. You all have one big advantage over the Beast. You know what that is? The Beast is alone. We're not! If we can use that to fight against him—" He was cut off by a loud bang as the pod's cable snapped and fell down the shaft.

"The cable's snapped!" Ida cried.

"Get out!" the Doctor yelled. They leapt out and hit the ground as miles of heavy steel cable hurtled down on the pod at high speed. _An acceleration of 9.81 meters per second, to be exact,_ Lena thought, remembering her Physics classes from that year.

"Doctor we lost the cable!" Rose shouted into the com. "Doctor, are you all right? Doctor!"

"Coms are down," Zach reported.

"Doctor! Doctor, can you hear me?"

"I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule!"

"Say something!" Rose begged. "Are you there?"

"There's no way out. They're stuck down there." Zach paused for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"No!" Rose said stubbornly. "No, I won't believe that. The Doctor always comes back. Always."

"I know," Lena said. "And he will. Just you wait."

~Starlight~

"How much air have we got?" the Doctor asked Ida as they looked at the demolished pod.

"Sixty minutes. Fifty-five?"

The Doctor let out a long breath. This was going to be difficult.

~Starlight~

"But we've got to bring them back," Rose was saying.

"They're ten miles down! We haven't _got_ another ten miles of cable," Captain Zack said firmly. Banging came from the door.

"Captain? Situation report," Jefferson demanded.

"It's the Ood—they're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in!"

"Yeah, it's the same on door 25," Jefferson said, eying the door.

"How long's it going to take?" Rose asked.

"Well, it's only a basic frame. Should take around ten minutes…" The Ood cut through another bolt. "Eight," Jefferson corrected.

"I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you," Zack told them regretfully.

"Right," Rose said. "So we need to stop them, or get out, or both."

"I vote both!" Lena said, glancing nervously back at the door.

"Me too," Danny agreed. "But how?"

"You heard the Doctor!" Rose said. "Why do you think that thing cut him off? 'Cause he was making sense! He was telling you to think your way out of this. So come on! For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power _somewhere_."

"There's nothing I can do," Captain Zack said bitterly. "Some captain, stuck in here pressing buttons."

"That's what the Doctor meant—_press the right buttons!"_

Zack came to life a bit. "They've gutted the generators, but the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that…Mister Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety."

"Opening the bypass conduits, sir."

"Channeling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power!" The lights flashed back on.

"Hallelujah!" Lena cheered, hugging Rose.

"There we go!" Rose said, smiling broadly.

"Let there be light!" Danny said.

"What about that strategy nine thing?" Rose asked Zack.

"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent."

"All right, we need a way out. Zack, Jefferson, you get to work on that. Toby, how about you?"

"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."

"You're an archaeologist! Of course you can do something," Lena scolded him. "You're not supposed to be a soldier, you're supposed to think. So start thinking and figure some things out for us."

"Like what?"

"What do you know about the pit? That would help."

"Nothing. We can't even translate the language!"

"Oh, come on. No one could figure out the ancient languages for ages until the Rosetta Stone came along, but that didn't stop them from gathering information from observing the architecture and architects!"

"Okay, okay, hold on. Maybe. I might have something."

"What is it?" Rose asked him.

"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters make more sense."

"Well, get to work."

"Anything you can translate, anything at all, will help. Good luck," Lena said as she shoved him off.

"You don't have to be so rough with him, you know," Rose said to her reproachfully.

"I can't help it!" Lena scowled. "His very existence irritates me. He's one of those people for me. Plus it doesn't help that I know about the future."

"The future? Is he going to die? And that's why you can't stand to be around him—because you know?"

Lena looked away. "I can't tell you. I can't affect the timeline like that." She walked over to Jefferson to see if she could help them in any way, ending the conversation before Rose could ask anything else.


	18. Chapter 18: The Satan Pit, Part 3

"As for you, Danny boy," Rose said, turning to Danny, "You're in charge of the Ood, yeah? Any way of stopping them?"

"Well…I don't know."

"Then find out! The sooner we get control of the base, the sooner we can get the Doctor—"

"And Ida!" Lena shouted from across the room.

"And Ida," Rose agreed, "out. Now shift!" Danny got to work.

~Starlight~

"Well we've got all this cable. Might as well use it," Ida mused. "The drum's disconnected…we could adapt it, feed it through."

"And then what?" the Doctor asked.

"Abseil into the pit."

"Abseil," the Doctor said. "Right." He didn't sound excited.

"We're running out of air with no way back! It's the only thing we can do."

"Oh, I'll get back," the Doctor told her. "My friends are up there. _Rose_ is up there." He looked startled for a moment, realizing what he had just said without even thinking about it.

"Well, maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the pit!" Ida insisted.

"Well, it's half of a good plan."

"What's the other half?"

"I go down, not you," the Doctor said firmly.

~Starlight~

Jefferson was calling out instructions. "Open junctions five, six, seven! Reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go!"

"I have no idea what he's actually doing, but I hope it works," Lena whispered to Rose.

"I agree," Rose murmured back.

"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board!" Danny exclaimed, frustrated. He kicked the nearest wall and gritted his teeth in pain.

"Well that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got!" Rose said. Lena loved the sarcasm. "We haven't got a swimming pool, either."

"Or a Tesco's!" Lena said. Just then, the screen lit up, reading "AFFIRMATIVE."

"Oh, my God. It says yes. I can do it! Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!" Danny exclaimed excitedly.

"What happens to the Ood?" Rose asked.

"It'll tank them spark out."

"There we are, then. Do it!"

"But…I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation

Rose looked around determinedly. "That's what we'll do, then. Mister Jefferson, sir. Any way out

"Just about," said Jefferson. "There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."

"Ventilation shafts?"

"Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."

"Dangit!" Lena said.

"But I can manipulate the oxygen field from here!" Zack interjected from his station in the control room. "Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network."

"Right," said Rose. "So we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand?"

** "**You wanted me pressing buttons."

Rose sighed. "Yeah, I asked for it. Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."

~Starlight~

"That should hold it," said Ida as she inspected their work. The ten miles of cable was secured at the drum and around the Doctor's waist. "How's it going?"

"Fine. Should work. Doesn't feel like such a good idea now." The doctor stepped onto the edge of the jump. "Hmm…there it is again. That _itch_. Go down, go down, go down, go down, go down.

"The urge to jump." Ida looked at him. "Do you know where it comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage. Ever since we were primates in the trees. It's our body's way of testing us—calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch."

"No, that's not it," he objected. "That's too kind. It's not the urge to jump. It's deeper than that." He paused. "It's the urge to fall!"

The Doctor launched himself into the chasm.

"DOCTOR!" yelled Ida. She yanked the brake on the drum. "Are you okay?"

"Not bad, thanks! The wall of the pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just not much of it. There's a crust about twenty feet down and then…nothing. Just the pit. Okay, then! Lower me down!"

"Well, here we go then!" She loosened the cable.

~Starlight~

"Hurry up!" Lena screeched. "They've almost broken through!" She was trying to barricade the door with everything she could find. Lena had not been ready at all for how unprepared she was to handle an actual, real-life episode with the Doctor. It was insane. "It just had to be this one, didn't it?" she complained to the universe. "It couldn't have been something nice and short and simple like New Earth."

"Danny!" Rose yelled as she helped Lena.

"Hold on, just conforming!"

"Dan, we've got to go NOW!" Jefferson shouted. "Come on!"

"Yeah!" shouted Danny in victory. He grabbed an orange chip as the machine spit it out and ran over to the others. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood."

Rose stared everyone hard in the eye. "We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."

"Okay," Jefferson said, not really answering Rose's statement, "Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler, then the short one—"

_ "I have a name,"_ Lena growled at him. Jefferson continued talking, ignoring her.

"—Then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position. Now, come on, quick as you can!" They all smashed themselves into the tunnel.

"It looks like those huge industrial air conditioning vent shafts back on Earth," Lena commented. "Not that I would have any reason to know that, of course. No reason at all."

"Oh, I'm sure," Rose retorted with a small laugh. "God, it stinks. You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm laughing," said Danny. "Which way do we go?"

** "**Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so," Captain Zack ordered over the com. Jefferson climbed in with them and shut the entrance just as the Ood broke into the drilling area behind them. They started crawling along.

"Not your best angle, Danny," Rose teased.

"Oi, stop it!"

Toby grinned, looking at Lena's backside.

"I don't know, it could be worse."

"OI!" Lena roared.

"Straight on until you find junction seven point one. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you," Zack said. Lena appreciated the reminder. She couldn't help being scared that they'd suddenly find themselves unable to breathe. Her most feared ways to die all involved suffocating. Being unable to breathe was the worst kind of fear for her.

** "**We're at seven point one, sir," Danny reported.

** "**Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section."

** "**Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?"

"I'm working on half power, here!"

"Stop complaining," Jefferson said, exasperated.

"Mister Jefferson says stop complaining," Lena told Danny.

"I heard."

"He heard," Lena reported.

"But the air's getting a bit thin," Toby said. Lena smashed her fear to the back of her mind.

_ "He's_ complaining now."

"I heard," Jefferson sighed.

Rose reached forward and whacked Lena on the foot. "Stop being such a kid!"

"I am a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like it!"

"I'm just moving the air," Captain Zack told them. "I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse." Lena's stomach was already in knots. Suddenly they heard a loud bang. All five people in the tunnel asked the captain various versions of "What was that?!"

** "**The junction in Habitation Five's been opened! It must be the Ood," he said.

"Wonderful," Lena groaned.


	19. Chapter 19: The Satan Pit, Part 4

They were scrambling through the tunnels, in shock and close to panic. Jefferson was gone. He'd been trying to hold the Ood off and hadn't gotten into the shaft in time. Lena was close to hyperventilating.

"Lena, breathe," Rose ordered. Lena kept panting heavily. "Lena, there's not all that much air we have access to! I know you're freaking out right now, but try to channel it some other way or just hold off a little bit longer, okay? You need to focus. We need to get back to the control room. Focus on getting there. Nothing else. Lena tried to calm herself down. Two dramatic deaths in one day and her most-feared method of death having killed at least one of them had not put her in a good place mentally.

"Look out!" Danny yelled.

"Lower nine point two! Hurry, Zach!" Rose cried.

"Back, back, back!" "We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off. We're stuck," Toby moaned.

"Not helping!" Lena told him, finally managing to get a grip on herself as extra adrenaline flooded her system. Rose looked up and pushed on the grating of the floor above them as the Ood tried to get in.

"Come on, up!" The others scrambled out after her. "Come on, Toby! Come on!"

"Oh no," Lena said. She remembered this part. Toby turned around, and his eyes were red. He motioned for the Ood to be silent.

"Toby, _get out of there!"_ yelled Rose. Toby's eyes suddenly faded back to normal.

"Help me! Oh, my God. Help me!" he whimpered. Lena narrowed her eyes. Rose, however, geld out her hand as the Ood approached, pulling Toby up.

** "**Come on."

"It's this way!" Danny said, leading the way down the corridor.

** "**Hurry it up!" Captain Zack told them, picking up a bolt gun as the Ood prepared to break through the door.

The others were finally in Ood habitation. "Get it in!" Rose shouted at Danny.

"Danny, get down!" yelled Toby.

"Transmit!" ordered Rose.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it," Danny cried. His hands flew frantically around his pockets as he tried to find the chip. Zack raised his gun over in the control room as the Ood broke in. "Danny, _get that thing transmitting!_" Lena hollered. He slammed the chip into the slot. All the Ood grabbed their heads and writhed around before collapsing to the ground.

"You did it! We did it!" cheered Rose, hugging Danny.

"Yes!" he laughed. Lena gave him a high-five.

"Zach, we did it," Lena called over the com, even though she knew he already was aware of that.

"The Ood are down," Rose agreed. "Now we've got to get the Doctor."

** "**I'm on my way," Zack replied.


	20. Chapter 20: The Satan Pit, Part 5

"The comms. are still down. I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute," said Zack.

'Idris!'Lena shouted in her head, trying to reach out to the Tardis.

_I'm here, firefly. What is it? _

'I need your help! I have to get the Doctor through on the coms RIGHT now before it's too late for him to tell Rose, and Zack's not going to get it in time.' The Tardis already knew what she was talking about.

_I've got this, don't worry. He'll come through at exactly the right moment. Just hold on.'_

"Thank you," Lena breathed.

"What?" Rose asked, turning around.

"Nothing," said Lena quickly. Rose frowned in worry at the communicator. Suddenly, it crackled, and the Doctor's voice came through, faint at first, then louder.

"...If they get back in touch, if you talk to Rose, just tell her...tell her—oh, she—"

"If you don't tell her right now Doctor, I swear to Rassilon that I'm gonna slap you right into your next regeneration when you get back!" Lena threatened. Down in the pit, the Doctor's eyes widened in surprise.

"Lena!" he said. "But—how—what—"

"Just tell her!"

"Oh, all right!" The Doctor swallowed. "Rose Tyler, I..."

Lena held her breath. _Oh, don't you dare, universe, she thought. You're not going to wreck it this time around. They deserve the chance._

"I love you!" he blurted out. Rose let out a strangled gasp as if she couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

"Doctor...I love you too!"

"YES!" Lena cheered, punching the air. "Finally!"

Just then, the last clip holding the Doctor to the cable snapped in two, and he fell with a shout into the unknown darkness below.


	21. Chapter 21: The Satan Pit, Part 6

"Doctor, are you there? Doctor, Ida, can you hear me?" called Rose. "Are you there, Doctor?"

**"**He's gone," Ida replied, in shock.

**"**What do you mean, he's _gone_?"

**"**He fell into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is. Miles and miles and miles..."

**"**But what do you mean, he fell?" Rose demanded.

**"**I couldn't stop him! The clip just...broke."

"I'm sorry," Zack said quietly as he took the com from Rose. "Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable. No backup. You're ten miles down. We can't get there."

**"**You should see this place, Zach," she said, trying to hold it together. "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things, and here I am."

**"**We've got to abandon the base. I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."

**"**But we'll never find out what it was," said Ida.

"Ida, I don't think you want to know," said Lena seriously.

"Yeah." Ida still sounded wistful.

"Officer Scott..." Zack couldn't finish the sentence.

**"**It's all right. Just go. Good luck."

**"**And you." Everyone stood in silence. "Danny, Toby, close down the feed links. Get the retrotropes online, then get to the rocket and strap yourselves in. We're leaving."

"We're not coming," Lena said, stepping over to stand by Rose.

"There's space for you."

Rose shook her head. "No, I'm going to wait for the Doctor. Just like he waited for me."

"We can't give up on him," said Lena.

"I'm sorry, but he's dead," said the captain.

"He really isn't," insisted Lena.

"You don't know him!" Rose was getting emotional. "He's not. I'm telling you, he's not. And even if he was, how could I leave him all on his own, all the way down there? No, I'm going to stay."

"He's coming back. He's not dead, and even if he was he has a way of coming back. He's done it before! I'm not going to leave. I'm staying with Rose," Lena told Zack in a last-ditch attempt to get him to believe them. She really didn't want to get knocked out and stuck in a tiny rocket with the Devil.

"Then I apologize for this," Captain Zack sighed. "Danny, Toby? Make her secure." They grabbed Rose and restrained her while Zack pulled out a hypo.

"Rose!" shouted Lena. "Let her go!"

"No, no. No! No! No! Let me go! Get off me! I'm not leaving!" Rose fought them hard, but she couldn't get free. Zack injected her with the sedative, and she started to drift off.

"No," Rose murmured, one last time. Lena tried to run, but she didn't get far before the caught her.

"No!" she cried. "Don't! You can't! Please, please, please! Don't do it. Don't do it! Don't! Please! He's coming back! Let me go, please!" As she thrashed and tried to kick them away, Zack jabbed her in the neck with another hypo. As she was considerably smaller than Rose, she was knocked out almost instantly.

"I have lost _too_ many people. I am not leaving you behind! Let's get them on board."

As they walked, one of the Ood twitched.

"Did that one just move?" asked Toby, his voice higher than usual.

"It's the telepathic field. It's reasserting itself!" said Danny.

"Move it. Get to the rocket," Zack ordered. "Move!" They ran for the rocket and got the two girls and themselves strapped in, trying not to think about the two people far below who would never be able to escape the planet—one already dead, one who would die soon, slowly, afraid, from a lack of oxygen, while there was nothing they could do.

"Dislocating B clamp. C Clamp. Raising blu-nitro to maximum. Toby, how's the Negapact feed line?" Captain Zack asked.

"Clear. Ready to go, sir. For God's sakes, get us out of here!" As he spoke, Rose woke up. She looked around slowly, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Lena was still out cold.

"Captain, I think we're going to have a problem passenger..." said Danny.

"Keep an eye on her," warned Zack.

"Wait...we're not..." Rose said, suddenly beginning to understand.

"It's all right, Rose. You're safe," said Danny, trying to head off the inevitable explosion. Rose threw herself against the restraints, desperately trying to free herself.

"I'm not going anywhere! Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" she screamed at them.

The rocket shook violently. "And lift off! Whoo!" yelled Zack as they took off.

~Starlight~

Far below in the depths of the planet, Ida and the Doctor heard rumbling.

"A rocket," the Doctor whispered, looking broken. He knew what that meant.

Ida closed her eyes in defeat, finally letting a tear slip down her cheek. That was it, then. She was never going to get out. This desolate alien cavern would be her tomb forever.

~Starlight~

Back on the Rocket, Rose snatched up a bolt gun. "Take me back to the planet. Take me back!"

Zack looked back at her. "Or what?"

"Or I'll shoot."

"Would you, though? Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?" he asked her. She looked stricken, slumping back in her seat.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "But it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted. Isn't that right?"

As Rose watched the planet disappear behind them through the rocket window, tears rolled down her cheeks.


	22. Chapter 22: The Satan Pit, Part 7

Toby started laughing

"What's the joke?" asked Danny.

"Just...we made it! We escaped. We actually did it."

"Not all of us," Rose reminded them solemnly.

"We're not out of it yet," Zack said. "We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats!"

"Gravity funnel holding, sir," Toby said with relish. "Always holding!"

Lena groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. Rose looked over quickly.

"Lena? You awake?"

"Ow..."

"Lena?"

"Yeah..." she mumbled. "Just...unh. Please, don't ever knock me out with whatever that was ever again."

"I'm sorry," Zack said over his shoulder. "But we had to." Lena didn't reply. Zach sighed.

Stats at fifty three. Funnel stable at sixty six point five. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir, all the way back home. Coordinates set for planet Earth," Toby told them all.

"Oh, no. I was hoping I'd miss this part..." Lena mumbled. The others ignored her, except for Rose, who gave her a slightly puzzled look.

Rose finally began to see the truth. "It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've ripped out the air or, I don't know, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why? Unless...it _wanted_ us to escape?"

"Hey, Rose, do us a favour," Toby said nastily. "Shut up. Almost there! We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty nine..."

~Starlight~

"So, that's the trap," the Doctor said, finally understanding. "Or the test, or the final judgment, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill them. I kill her. Except that implies in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils that she's just a victim." He was getting visibly angry now. "But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods, and out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in her!" With that, he smashed the urn and everything descended into chaos.

~Starlight~

Lena winced as the rocket started to shake violently. Rose gripped the seat tightly.

"What happened? What was that?" Danny demanded.

"What's he doing? What is he doing?!" Tony shrieked. Lena shook her head sadly. Poor Toby. She wished there was a way she could have saved him. But it was too late—he was already long gone.

"We've lost the funnel. Gravity collapse!" growled Zack.

"What does _that_ mean?" Rose asked, sounding panicky.

"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!"

~Starlight~

The Doctor smashed the other urn. "This is your freedom—free to die! You're going into that black hole and I'm riding with you!"

~Starlight~

"It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling!" said Rose. She looked over at Toby, whose skin was covered in the ancient symbols.

_ "I am the rage," _he snarled.

"It's Toby! Zach, do something."

"And the bile and the ferocity."

"Just do something!" she screamed.

"I am the Prince and the Fall and the enemy. I am the sin and the fear and the darkness." "It's him it's him it's him!" Danny sounded like a corrupted audio file.

"Stay where you are. The ship's not stable!" Zack ordered. In answer, Toby breathed out fire. Lena shrieked and grabbed Rose's arm. "What is he? What the hell is he?" Zack yelled.

"I shall never die! The thought of me is forever. In the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsession and lust—"

Rose picked up the bolt gun.

"—nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!"

Rose raised the gun. "Go to hell." She blasted the front screen out and unfastened Toby from his seat. He was instantly sucked out into space, still roaring in rage.

"Emergency shield!" gasped Captain Zack. A metal sheet slammed down and sealed the hole. The rocket continued to plummet, out of control. "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!"

"But we stopped him," Rose said calmly. That's what the Doctor would've done.

"Some victory. We're going in."

"The planet's lost orbit. It's falling!" Danny exclaimed.

Down below, the Ood were awake and finally free. The Beast had given them back their self-awareness just in time for them to see their own impending deaths. In the cavern, Ida finally passed out as the oxygen ran out. The Doctor was slammed backwards into...a big blue box. He grinned and patted it fondly before running inside.

"The planet's gone. I'm sorry," Danny said.

"Accelerate," Zack ordered the computer. "I did my best," he sighed. "But hey! The first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History."

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading my story. I know this is short, and I'm sorry for that—life has been crazy and I haven't had much time for writing. The Satan Pit only has one more chapter to go! I'll have it up on Monday. If you like my story, or if you have suggestions or critiques or anything, please review! I love hearing from you. :) Also, if anyone is interested I now have a link to my tumblr on my profile page, so feel free to check it out! I mainly have various fandom posts and anything I find funny or striking, so maybe you'll find some things you like. See you on Monday!**

**Stay awesome!**

**~Starlight**


	23. Chapter 23: The Satan Pit, Part 8

Suddenly the shaking stopped.

"What happened?" asked Rose.

"We're turning," Zack said in disbelief. "We're turning around. We're turning away!"

"Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship Tardis," the Doctor said cheerfully. Lena grinned. "Now, first thing's first. Have you got a Rose Tyler on board?"

"Oi!" Lena said. "What am I, then? The pet hamster?" But she didn't sound very upset.

"I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God. Where are you?" Rose sounded giddy. Not that Lena blamed her.

"I'm just towing you home," said the Doctor. "Gravity, schmavity! My people practically invented black holes. Actually, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe! Oh, and Captain? Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and a certain pet hamster of ours named Lena, I'll give you Ida Scott? How's that?"

"She's alive?" Zack shouted.

"Yes!" whooped Danny. "Thank God."

"Yeah!" said the Doctor, looking over at Ida. "Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." He paused. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line. Mission closed!"

A few minutes later, Rose bounded into the Tardis and tackled the Doctor. Lena followed behind a bit more slowly. She thought about the amusing conversation among the crew members they were leaving behind, and couldn't help grinning. They were never going to stop wondering about that big blue box for as long as they lived.

The Doctor called over the coms again. "Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home. And the next time you get curious about something...oh, what's the point. You'll just go blundering in. The human race," he said fondly.

"But Doctor, what did you find down there?" asked Ida. "That creature, what was it?"

"I don't know. Never did decipher that writing. But that's good, Day I know everything? Might as well stop."

"What do you think it was, really?" Rose asked, looking at him seriously.

"I think we beat it. That's good enough for me." Lena leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Whatever they'd knocked her out with really took it out of her. She could't wait until they got out of there and back in the vortex so she could have a good, long sleep.

"It said I was going to die in battle," Rose said, sounding slightly scared.

"Then it lied. Right, onwards, upwards. Ida? See you again, maybe."

"**I** hope so," said Ida.

"And thanks, boys!" Rose called through.

"Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said. You two, who are you?" Ida asked.

The Doctor looked at Rose and grinned. "Oh, the stuff of legend." He sent the Tardis into the vortex. "Right, then! What do you two want to do? We could go to Alinxecoptra, it's made entirely up of suburbs and jaccuzi malls! You'd love it. Very fun."

"Actually," Rose said with a frown, "I want some ibuprofen and sleep. Got a killer headache. Must be from when they knocked us out..."

"They knocked you out?" The Doctor said.

"Well, yeah," Lena said. "What, did you think we'd just go willingly? 'Oh, sure! Our friend and his gorgeous sentient spaceship are stuck miles underneath a planet that according to the laws of physics can't exist, and even though you're telling us he's dead we know he can't be and he's saved the day under worse circumstances than this. Sure, we'll just hop in the rocket and go!' It wasn't even an option."

"We said no, they grabbed us, and next thing I know I'm in a rocket about to blast off," said Rose.

"She actually threatened Captain Zack," Lena said. "It was kind of impressive, even though he saw through her bluff."

"But you should have left regardless!" the Doctor protested. "Why on earth would you stay and condemn yourself to certain death instead of leaving and flying to safety?"

"Let's see," said Lena. "One: Hello! We're in a different century and we don't have anywhere to go. Two: We wouldn't be condemning ourselves to death. You always save the day and fix the problem. Three: Well, I'll let Rose finish."

"We'd be leaving you behind, you idiot," said Rose, her voice cracking. The Doctor looked at her for a long moment.

"Rose, I'm not worth dying for. You can't just—"

"No!" Rose shouted at him. "_You_ can _not_ tell me what to do! I'm not a child. I am perfectly capable of making decisions on my own, thank you very much, and if I want to stay with you I'm bloody well going to stay. You sent me away once, Doctor, you took away my _choice! _Do you know how much that hurt me?"

"I..."

"Doctor, say your sorry and swear you won't send her away again," Lena said sternly. "And really mean it. Don't lie."

"Rose, I—" the Doctor stopped for a moment and collected himself. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I know you can make your own decisions, it's just...I don't ever want you to get hurt, or worse, because of me. When you're hurt, I hurt."

"It's not your fault," said Rose. "Stop blaming yourself for everything. People make their own decisions, you can't be responsible for everything that happens."

"For example, If I decided to jump up the stairs and ended up breaking my wrist, there's no way it would be your fault. But you, being you, would still blame yourself for it. Which is stupid." Lena folded her arms.

The Doctor looked back and forth between Rose and Lena. "I'm not going to win against you two, am I?"

"Nope," said Rose.

"All right. Fine. I give up. Rose, I'm sorry. Truly, I am. I swear...I swear on the planet Gallifrey"—his voice caught for a moment—"that I will never, ever send you away again against your will. But can you promise me you'll try to stay safe as best you can? I can't—Rose, you're the only person that kept me going after the Time War. You pulled me back out of the darkness, and you saved me from the Daleks and saved the whole universe to boot, and I couldn't bear it if—if—Rose, I love you!"

He caught Rose up in a hug as they both tried not to cry. The day's events had been rough for both of them, thinking they'd lost each other for good. The Doctor clutched Rose tightly, looking like he'd never let her go again for fear of losing her. Rose looked up and kissed him gently.

"Oo-kay," said Lena, "and now I'm leaving. If you need me, which I doubt, I'm going to take a bath and then go to bed. Have fun!" She ran out of the console room, leaving them to have some nice bonding time, but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

She'd already changed this. The Doctor and Rose were doing and learning things that they never had in the show until too late. If this changed things...if Lena could change Doomsday and everything...what else would change? Anything was possible. It could be an entirely new world... As Lena sank gratefully into the steaming water, she eagerly began to think about the possible effects of various events.

This was going to be interesting.

**There we have it—the last part of The Satan Pit! I hope you liked it. Please review or message me if you have any suggestions or anything you want to see in this story! I always love hearing from you. Stay awesome, guys! :)**

**~Starlight**


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